Adventures of Illuminatus: Siege of Orgrimmar
by Kirishtu
Summary: When Garrosh begins his assault, the raiding team of the guild Illuminatus, Shandris/Bronzebeard US realm, take the first steps into war, aiding Vol'jin's revolution in the Siege of Orgrimmar. The characters herein belong to myself and my guildmates. Some language.
1. Chapter 1

Immerseus

Written to Sandstorm by Darude

Mistahtea - troll monk - Mistweaver

Ain't nobody be listnin' ta Lorewalker Cho, dat much I know. De Pandaren followed us into the chamber underground, 'neath de Vale o' Eternal Blossoms, and started spoutin' t'ings about keepers an' other stuff. Most o' us don' care 'bout dat crap, or at least, I don'. If I be wantin' a history lesson, I go ask Schio. She seem to know just 'bout everyt'in dat happened in de course of Azerothian history and den some. Girl's a walkin' library, if ya just ask de right questions. If ya want ta listen, anyway.

Not sayin' I wasn't impressed by the size an' scale o' de chamber. Ta have somethin' like dis hidden 'neath de Vale o' Eternal Blossoms was kinda amazin', considerin' no one knew 'bout its existence til Hellscream destroyed de beautiful place an' started makin' his mark on de world.

I walked down de ramp from de entrance way, past de dead pool defenders and little puddles o' stuff. I watched the others bring down two giant water elementals, guardians of de inner chamber. What I saw dere, though, made me shiver, an' I don' shiver easy. I be a troll, a Darkspear who live in de hot waste o' Durotar an' de Echo Isles. My leader be Vol'jin, an' we all know what happened ta him... Why we make our foray into dis place. Explore, make a name for us, maybe get a little revenge in dere too. Why not, right? Ya only live once, and ya better make it a life worth livin'. Dat why I choose de path o' de Mistweaver monk, why I choose ta be a monk rather den a hunter or 'lock or warrior. It ain't somethin' I be before, and I learn somethin' new.

When I saw what was waitin' in de central chamber, I stopped. Stared. I wasn't de only one. I watched de others stop and stare up at de water creature that loomed above us. It was no water elemental, or if it was, it certainly wasn't like any of de ones I'd seen. It fixed what I guess were its eyes on us, and I felt a sinking feelin' start in my chest an' work its way down ta my stomach. In its shadow, we started preparin' for battle, eatin' a little somethin', grabbin' flasks an' potions, and de healthy tones de warlocks set down for us. We'd probably need d'ose.

Trolls don' scare easy. We don' run from battle, don' hide and attack from de shadows like skulkin' assassins. But dis? Yeah, dis time I admit ta bein' scared. I didn' know what was gonna happen, and we was gonna provoke it. An' I was gonna have ta do my damnedest ta keep me an' my team on dis side o' de livin'.

"Ready?" Called Xallion, our leader, a resto shaman. A troll, like me. Our group wasn't de typical group. De men be de healers, de ladies de damage dealers. Ironic, right?

There were a few calls o' "Ready!" in answer, a few grunts and shrugged shoulders. Me? I always ready. I stepped closer ta de inner ring, and rose up ta my full height for the briefest o' moments, castin' my gaze over my friends. We were spread out in de room, on different platforms. Was some sort o' strategy, I guess. I let dem worry 'bout strategy. If I need ta know somethin' I be told before we head inta de fight. My only job was ta keep everyone alive as long as it took ta kill the beast. I watched Niarweaver and Greymoon, our two tanks, talk amongst deyselves. I couldn't hear what dey said to one another, but I saw Niarweaver give a hand signal and a smile lit up her face. She gripped her rune blade and opened her mouth.

Immerseus lifted a big watery hand and tried ta squash her.

De fight was on in dat moment, and I watched spells and arrows fly, minions an' pets rush in ta fight the liquid monstah dat loomed above us. I saw somethin' flit by outta de corner o' my eye and saw Helpfuldeath, a Orc death knight, go flyin' backwards. He hit de ground beside me and almost didn't get back up. I reached out ta him, almost laughin'. "Get up, fool! Why ya be layin' down on de job?"

"Shut up." Helpful growled at me. He surged ta his feet, his wounds healed, and joined de battle again, swingin' dose rune blades as hard as he could while attackin' wit frost an' whatever else it was death knights used. 'Side him was our only other melee, a ret pally called Sabaak. The two o' dem looked furious as dey swung at Immerseus.

I saw Nph nearby, a look of determination on his face. Dat's when I realized dat he had activated Righteous Fury, and was attracting dese little sha things to him. Before anyone could say anyt'ing, Greymoon was chargin' in, right at Nph, an' pullin' dem t'ings off him. Several o' dem suddenly exploded inta flames as Schio turned on dem, her emerald fire splittin' from a singular line to multiple ta strike each little demon. Den I saw her raise her hand an' a rain o' fire started, droppin' heavily on de heads of Greymoon, Nph, an' de little sha t'ings. Julip an' Nakti turned ta dem t'ings too, dere barrages fillin' de creatures fulla holes. De adds went down fast.

"Clear d'ose stacks on Julip!" Xallion cried. "Dey gettin' too high!"

I glanced at de girl and let out a curse. De others couldn't see what Xallion was talkin' 'bout, but I could. I tapped inta my mana and flew inta a flurry o' motion, sendin' out a cleasin' spell toward Julip, one o' our troll huntresses. She looked my way an' gave me a nod in t'anks, then lifted her bow and began firing a stingin' barrage toward Immerseus. I saw Light gather 'round her as Nph cast a spell ta heal her wounds.

Immerseus let out a watery howl. A great big wall o' water suddenly surged out de pool, a unavoidable deluge dat we had ta deal with. Had ta make a decision quick. It surged toward me and I had a second to make a choice. I dove forward. De water was frigid, freezin' my skin as I rolled through. Dere was ice in my hair; de water ripped inta my eyes as it melted. I spun back ta look for my friends, and sent chi toward dem ta heal dere wounds.

Suddenly, de beast vanished.

"What de hell...?" I breathed out, staring at de churning pool before us. "What's goin' on...?"

"Look out!" Cried Schio, her hand raisin' ta de sky as she called on a shadowy shield dat coalesced around her body. "He's splitting!"

"Wha-" I never got de opportunity ta ask her what she meant, cause in dat moment, de pool churned even more violently and suddenly exploded upward. I heard cries from around de ring as blobs o' black an' blue began rainin' down on us. I raced toward a blue one 'longside Helpfuldeath an' Sabaak, launch in' inta a spin as I cast my healin' spell as dey attacked one o' de black ones. I watched as de blue blob absorbed my healin' startin' ta glow de more it got healed. "Heal de blue ones!" I yelled to Xallion and Nph. Dey looked toward me and gave quick nods, den turned toward the blue blobs closest ta dem. My blob, an' de ones around it, it began ta glow as soon as it wouldn't take any more healin' and continued its trek back toward de center of de pool, joining several o' its siblin's. I saw several dark blobs headin' toward de center ring and started ta leap toward dem, only ta see a felguard rush in on dem and cleave one in half.

Kyel shot me a grin, then turned on a heel and launched a stream o' fire at anuddah black blob. I saw Nakti race in, her bow raised to fire a stinging shot dat was de blob's death blow.

De pool shivered again, and Immerseus burst out of the pool and turned its fury on Niarweaver. De small death knight let out a breathy laugh as she engaged Immerseus, drawin' its attention away from us. I wondered if she was tauntin' it, considerin' its strikes became heavier on her.

"How... How much longer?" I asked, panting softly. It seemed like it was goin' on forever!

Schio looked at me and gave a weak smile. "Not too much longer. I think." She leaped aside from a dark pool dat spawned under her feet, den turned on Immerseus and launched several chaos bolts toward it. I watched her for a minute, den resumed healin' d'ose around me. I was sweatin' - most o' us were. We hadn't been expectin' ta fight like dis, and I don' think anyone was expectin' de fight ta take dis long! If dis was what we had ta look forward to de rest of the war...

I let out a short laugh. Den I looked around at my friends' faces an' saw dere determination. Dey were gonna continue; de were gonna _fight _as long as it took ta free ourselves from de rule o' dat tyrant Garrosh Hellscream. De Horde was ours. Our hope, our freedom, our family. Whatever dat bastard was makin' it out ta be, whatever mockery he was makin' it ta be, it wasn't _ours._ Wasn't what we _wanted_.

De Horde wasn't about destroyin' things or people. Wasn't about takin' lives or kill in' d'ose who were weaker den us. De Horde was about brotherhood and solidarity, to come ta de defense o' d'ose who were our allies and friends. Ta protect our way o' life an' protect de lives o' others. Not... This.

I reached deep inside myself and drew upon all de strength dat was inside me, unleashin' it all as I fell inta a spin, sendin' out healin' chi toward my friends. I watched spell an' sword an' arrow, tooth an' claw an' fel energy, everythin' we had go in' inta bringin' de beast down.

And down it came.

I watched as Immerseus reared backwards, its watery form waverin' like it couldn't hold its shape any longer. It wavered, driftin' back an' forth like it was gonna attack again. Greymoon raced toward Niarweaver as fast as his bear legs could carry him. I watched the others prepare spells and draw back bowstrings and ready blades, set to attack again even d'ough we were all exhausted. I looked ta my fellow healers, Xallion and Nph, an' saw they had their healin' spells ready just in case somethin' was about ta go wrong.

The pool churned as Immerseus sank inta it, a slow, bubblin' demise if ever dere was one. We all held our breaths as we watched de pool, waitin' for somethin' ta happen. We didn't wanna turn our backs on somethin' we weren't sure was dead yet. The pool remained inert, just bubblin' gently like dere wasn't a monster sleepin' under its waters.

We waited a minute more, then let out a collective sigh o' relief. We headed toward de stairs den, lookin' up at de dark hall dat led out of Immerseus' chamber.


	2. Chapter 2

The Fallen Protectors

Written To Let Her Go by Passenger

Mistahtea - troll monk - Windwalker

We walked up de dark hallway an' staircase outta Immerseus' chamber, pausin' in a square chamber dat had a large platform in de center of it. De only way out seemed ta either go backwards, or find a way ta open a hole in de wall so we could charge on t'rough. We looked 'round de chamber, lookin' for any hidden levers or buttons until we finally began ta discuss givin' up an' headin' back de way we'd come.

"Seems silly that the Pandaren would build a passageway that goes nowhere." Commented Sabaak. De paladin was eyein' a decorative plate in de wall. "Unless they wanted to trap their enemies."

"I doubt that's a Pandaren thing to do," responded Niarweaver. Her voice rang deep, deeper den a girl's voice should be. She crossed her arms over her stomach and watched de same decorated plate Sabaak was starin' at. "There's gotta be something here. A lever or a switch. Something."

"Well, that gives us a choice," began Greymoon. De Tauren Druid had started movin' toward Niarweaver, his great hooves clompin' on de floor. "We either go back or we see if we can break down a wall."

Greymoon continued forward until finally he stepped onta de raised platform in de middle o' de room. He paused wit a surprised snort as he sank a few inches inta de floor. I jerked as I felt rumblin', lookin' around like de room was gonna suddenly cave in on us. 'Stead, de decorated plate in de wall, de one Sabaak and Niarweaver had been studyin', suddenly began ta move an' slide upwards, revealin' anuddah staircase.

"So," began Kyel, "who's going up first?"

Lorewalker Cho was halfway up de stairs 'fore Kyel even finished his sentence. De rest o' us, we followed at a more sedate pace, 'cause we had no idea what was waitin' for us at de top.

'Course what was dere was somethin' I ain't liable ta forget for de rest o' my life.

It was de Golden Lotus protectors o' de Vale - Rook, Sun, an' He. Dey didn't look like demselves, d'ough. Dey looked... wrong. I faintly heard Lorewalker Cho talkin' ta dem, but half o' de group had already jumped down ta de ground below, so I followed dem. As soon as I touched de ground, I knew what had happened ta de Protectors.

De pagoda dey used ta stand under, de pagoda in de middle o' de Vale, had been shattered. No doubt done when Garrosh had unleashed de Sha in de Vale. De pagoda had exploded, had fallen on top o' dem, crushin' dem beneath heavy stone an' leavin' behind only dere ghosts, de remnants o' dere guilt an' sadness. De Protectors had fallen. And now we were gonna free dem from spendin' eternity in torment.

Anger surged in me. Dey had been my friends, people I worked beside ta help protect de Vale from de Mogu. And now... now dey was gone. I gathered my strength and made de transition from Mistweaver ta Windwalker. Dey didn't deserve an existence like dis, trapped between life an' death, full o' regret.

"Rook first," said Xallion. "Den Sun, den He. We gotta release dem from dis hell."

Murmurs of assent whispered t'roughout de group and everyone readied dere spells an' swords.

"On ya, Grey, Niar." Xallion said.

De death knight and bear looked at each other, den Greymoon began a little countdown for de rest o' us, 'fore he charged in, right at He. Niarweaver went for Rook an' Sun. I launched myself at Rook, tapped inta a spell an' sent my clone flyin' at He.

Suddenly Sun cried, "You will suffer from our failure!"

It was all de warning we got before she unleashed a shadow attack dat _hurt_. Between Xallion and Nph, d'ose of us dat got hit hard were soon fulla energy again. I saw Rook flag suddenly, den cursed as I realized I couldn't hit him anymore. Three small protectors, Anger, Misery, an' Gloom, appeared on de field. I rushed toward Gloom, barely makin' it in time 'fore Helpfuldeath hauled off an' hit it hard 'nough ta stun it. I saw Schio's minion, a creepy li'l floatin' eyeball, discharge its attack of Gloom, followed by a quick silencing shot from Julip, an' a few seconds later from Nakti. Den Gloom suddenly went airborne, and I hauled myself around and focused on Sun.

She was a tough one, dat Sun. I was hittin' her hard as I could, an' I didn't feel like I was doin' much damage ta her. I heard Rook cry out somethin' 'bout brawlin' wit him, but barely felt more den a breeze. I kept focused on a Sun until I couldn't hit her anymore. She cried out, "Protectors! Come to my aid!" and de world around me had suddenly darkened; dere was a transparent black dome above us. Outside o' it, was two solid black Pandaren, each one wit his hands raised ta de sky, summoning little shas ta attack us. I focused on d'ose, watching de girls an' Kyel focus down de two Pandaren. It was over inna matter o' minutes, an' den Sun was attackin' again, like nothin' had happened.

"Watch out!" I heard Nph yell. "There's poison right underneath you!"

I didn't know who he was talkin' to, but I side-stepped anyway - dere was a puddle o' green stuff bubblin' on de ground close ta where it'd been standin' - an' kept up my attack on Sun and Rook, whole everyone turned ta focus on He. Greymoon was doin' his best ta keep He's attention on him an' not on de rest o' us.

Den, suddenly, I couldn't move.

"What de hell...?!" I yelled, an' 'fore I could even react, I got hit hard in de face. I looked up den inta de eyes of a vicious lookin' Pandaren. I didn't know it den, but dat Pandaren was called de Mark o' Anguish, an' it hit like a goblin shreddah. I fought 'gainst it long as I could, and den I looked toward Helpfuldeath. He nodded quick and I turned de Mark's attention toward him. Helpful held it for a few minutes more, den passed it over ta Greymoon. It vanished soon after he got it.

I wish it'd ended right dere, but it didn't. We launched anuddah full-out assault against de t'ree fallen Protectors, first engagin' Rook, den Sun, den finally He 'gain. Each time we brought dem down some, dere little friends appeared good as new, forcin' us ta fight dem instead o' one a de Protectors. Right when de Mark o' Anguish fell, I heard Helpfuldeath call out, "Xallion, do that thing shamans do."

"God dammit." Xallion exhaled in a deep sigh before he activated his bloodlust ability. Power filled me, rage soared through my veins. I focused on my targets - Rook and Sun - and threw a flurry o' punches an' kicks, while my clone an' de others focused on He. Dis time, none a dere little friends came out ta help dem in de fight, but it still didn't seem ta get any easier. Rook still kept pullin' us in with his brawl attack, Sun kept using her shadow attack, an' He kept layin' poison.

One by one, wit'in seconds o' each other, dey fell. I watched wit sadness in my heart as dey closed dere eyes for de last time.

Lorewalker Cho gave a movin' eulogy for dem, I think. I wasn't listenin'. We were already movin' on, across de Vale toward a tunnel dat led deeper underground.


	3. Chapter 3

Norushen

Written to Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

Xallion - troll shaman - restoration

Once de Protectors were gone, we headed for de great rent in de Vale caused by Garrosh an' his machinations for power. Along de way, we ran inta small groups o' sha, small an' medium. Dey went down pretty quick, mostly 'cause we were all still reelin' from de fact we just killed t'ree people who were our friends. Dat dey were already dead didn't matter; dey had still been known ta us. We'd still fought 'longside dem, still helped dem Protect de Vale o' Eternal Blossoms. It wasn't like we weren't used ta fightin' an' killin' people who'd meant somethin' ta us at some point in our lives, but it still hurt. Still hit hard in de proverbial heart strings an' made us - well, some o' us - question if what we were doin' was de right t'ing ta be doin'.

We took de high path and managed ta avoid one a de larger sha t'ings. In doin' so, d'ough, we managed ta land in a pile o' de small ones. Greymoon dragged dem toward de large sha, Zeal, dat was standin' in front o' de tunnel mouth. I recognized where we were right away - dis was de stagin' ground where I an' a few others helped a goblin blast his way inta a chamber where de heart o' an Old God, Y'saarj, lay dormant for t'ousands o' years. De tunnel we were headin' inta was where we'd fought - and killed - de goblin once he'd 'come possessed.

It took a little doin' 'fore Zeal fell. It kept stunnin' a few o' us, so it took a few more minutes den usual for us ta kill it. Once it was down, we headed inta de tunnel, an emerged in a large chamber of Pandaren make. Or, maybe Titan make. We'd emerged onta a staircase leadin' down inta a enclosed square room. Again, dere was no way out dat we could see. Just a giant statue at de head o' de staircase an' an alcove at de far end o' de room. Lorewalker Cho began talkin', but I wasn't payin' much attention. I was focused on makin' sure we ere prepared for whatever lay ahead, an' dat we had a sound strategy once I figured out what was happenin'.

"Halt!" Boomed a loud voice, one dat made my bones vibrate.

"Oh my! What is this? Hello! I am Lorewalker Cho!"

We all turned ta stare at de Pandaren like he was crazy. "What's he doing?" Asked Helpfuldeath. "Why are we letting him tag along with us again?"

"Because he invited himself and we don't have to protect him?" Julip replied with a soft laugh.

"But what if he antagonizes the disembodied voice?"

As if ta accentuate Helpful's comment, de deep voice continued, "No further corruption will enter the heart chamber!"

We could almost hear de panic in Lorewalker Cho's voice. "Further corruption? No, we are here to stop the corruption, and save Pandaria!"

"You wish to purge the corruption?"

"Yes!" Said Lorewalker Cho. "Please let us pass!"

Dere was a pause before de voice said, "Should you pass this door at this time, you would fail! You, all of you, are corrupted with the insidious plague known as Pride. You stand tall and proud atop your accomplishments, and this will be your downfall. Should you wish to defeat the corruption, you will first need to purify the corruption within yourselves." Now de statue at de end o' de hall shifted an' began ta move. De giant t'ing went ta stand on de opposite side o' de room, where de alcove was. "Speak to me when you are prepared to face your inner demons."

"Well," said Niarweaver, her deep voice holdin' amusement. "At least we know it isn't going to be easy."

I chuckled. "A'ight den. Which one a you tanks is goin' ta go talk ta him?"

Greymoon an' Niarweaver exchanged looks. The Tauren shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I will."

"So what's the strategy?" Asked Sabaak.

"You mean other than beating the crap out of whatever appears?" Schio asked with a smile.

Sabaak rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."

"Well," I said, "dere will be t'ree orbs dat spawn; one ta de left o' us, one ta de right, an' one behind Norushen."

"Norushen?" Asked Niarweaver.

I pointed. "Dat guy Grey's gonna go talk ta in a minute. So, we gotta purge our pride an' kill whatever comes out at us. De damage dealers an' healers - me an' Nph - will use de portals dat appear ta de left and right. Niar an' Grey, you guys'll use de one on de far end o' de room. "

"And what exactly is in these portals?" Asked Kyel.

"No idea." I answered.

"Just that we're supposed to go in and do something?"

"Yep."

"Awesome."

I turned ta look at de rest o' de group. "Other den dat, stay together. De healin' rain be your friend. Grey? On ya."

De Tauren nodded an' assumed his bear form. He jogged over ta where Norushen stood quietly, and a moment later, de construct seemed almost ta nod. Den Norushen boomed, "Very well. I will create a field to keep your corruption quarantined. Prove yourselves worthy and I will let you pass. The light purifies; but it is not gentle. Gird yourselves and be purified!"

Shadows began ta gather in de center o' de room, growin' larger wit each passin' second. Den a monstrous sha appeared, de Amalgamation o' Pride, an' it turned on Greymoon and Niarweaver. Outta de corner o' my eye I saw de orbs spawn for de portals an' two o' my friends vanished from sight. Wit'in seconds o' dere disappearance, two giant sha spawned, 'long wit smaller ones dat began to spit darkness at us.

While de ranged fighters turned ta de small adds, I saw Niarweaver grab hold o' de larger shas. As soon as dey fell, black pulsin' orbs appeared, forcin' Niar ta step in it. I raised my hands an' pleaded ta de element o' water, askin' for its help in healin' my friends.

A cool rain began ta fall, healin' wounds my chain healin' couldn't quite cover. De two who'd vanished reappeared, almost glowin'. I knew right away dey'd been purified o' pride. Two more vanished, 'long wit Grey. Wit dere disappearance, more creatures appeared, forcin' us ta divide our attention again. Suddenly, dere was a bright glow ta my left, and a quick glance showed me a beam taller den me an' as long as de room.

"Move!" I yelled, bringin' de beam ta everyone's attention. "It's right on us!"

We sprinted ta de other side o' de Amalgamation, an' continued de battle as de beam chased us. Just when I t'ought we'd have ta move again, de beam vanished, leavin' us outta harm's way for de moment.

Ironically 'nough, dis seemed ta be de easiest o' de t'ree fights we'd done so far. Everythin' was just a pattern - two vanished, things appeared, we killed dem, an' de two who'd vanished reappeared. Greymoon and Niarweaver alternated demselves so dat one o' dem was always wit us when de other disappeared.

"Has all dps gone in?" I yelled, tryin' ta be heard over de sound o' battle. As soon as I got confirmation from everyone, I activated bloodlust. Power surged t'roughout my body, increasin' my castin' speed an' de power o' my healin' spells. De warlocks summoned dere most powerful demons, de hunters called upon all dere pets, de death knights dere armies o' de dead, Mistahtea upon Xuen - we gave everyt'in we had. An' we hoped it'd be 'nough ta topple de beast.

De Amalgamation toppled over - an' it didn't get back up. Norushen boomed, "You have been judged, and proven yourselves worthy. But be warned, what lies beyond will try your souls to the utmost. When you are fully prepared, you may enter the chamber."

We took a few moments ta breathe an' recover, den we squared our shoulders, lifted our heads high, and started inta de next chamber.


	4. Chapter 4

Sha of Pride

Written to Wake Me Up by Avicii

Julip - troll hunter - survival/beast mastery

"Taran Zhu!"

I looked over toward Lorewalker Cho as he ran past us into the chamber behind Norushen. To my surprise, and to the surprise of the others, Lorewalker Cho was kneeling beside another Pandaren, one we knew quite well. Taran Zhu was the leader of the Shado-pan, an elite group of fighters who had protected Pandaria for ten thousand years until we, the Horde, and the Alliance had appeared on the shores of their homeland. We hadn't seen Taran Zhu since we'd helped free him of the Sha's influence in the monastery, and knew little of what had happened since Garrosh had unleashed hell in the Vale. We knew that Taran Zhu had tried to stop him, and had disappeared after the encounter.

Now here he was, cradled in the arms of Lorewalker Cho. As we passed the two Pandaren, I saw that Taran Zhu had a grievous wound in his belly, and there was a puddle of blood around him. Whatever the two Pandaren were discussing was lost to me as Greymoon began pulling little shas that were scattered in groups around the room.

I followed the others in, lifting my bow to unleash a stinging barrage of arrows. My pet, a sporebat I lovingly named Velvet, charged in to aid in the attack. I let out an involuntary gasp as something hit me square in the chest. I could feel something icy cold shivering through me, building in pressure and threatening to explode. On instinct, I activated my Deterrence ability and watched in abject horror as a pool of sha-like goop exploded around me, twice, thrice, _four_ times in quick succession.

"When they die," said Schio as she came up on my left, "they leave behind some kind of residue that acts like a time bomb. If you're too close to someone when the bomb goes off, you might just kill them."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She raised her arm and pointed toward where Helpfuldeath and Mistahtea stood. It happened so fast, I wasn't sure what I saw. One minute, the two of them were standing together and the next Helpful was dead on the floor and Mistahtea was laughing, almost doubled over in a fit.

"Oh," I said after a moment. "I see."

"Yup." Schio smiled a little and walked toward where Helpful lay, a quick spell leaving her lips as she resurrected him.

I watched the others make the circuit around the room and finish off the last of the creatures. The floor beneath my feet suddenly began to rumble and I heard Norushen cry, "It did not matter. It comes. Steel your hearts and prepare your souls."

Almost as if on cue, something huge burst out of the floor in the center of the room, the explosion knocking all of us up high in the air. I managed to turn in time to brace myself for the impact with the wall, taking the hit on my shoulder and back rather than my head or somewhere else on my body. I dropped to the floor and stared up at what had to be the Sha of Pride, the final Sha that Garrosh had unleashed into the world. And now we of Illuminatus would have to fight it.

"Come, face me," crowed the Sha of Pride, "Give in to your pride. Show me your 'greatness'."

We edged around the Sha and I joined the others as they gathered in a tight group near the back of the room. Again we took a few moments to eat something and drink another flask. Schio created her soul well for us, and we all took a health stone or three, tucking the glowing rocks in pockets or packs. Once we were ready, Niarweaver and Greymoon hurried to where Norushen stood, awaiting our signal. The rest of us gathered in the back of the room, where we stood waiting for the tanks to gain the Sha's attention.

When they did, the fight began hard and fast. I barely got my bow up in time to fire off a quick succession of arrows as the Sha of Pride began to beat Niarweaver and Greymoon into the floor. All else became background noise as I fought to keep the tempo going. Arrow after arrow flew at the Sha, my bowstring singing a staccato song as I nocked and fired, and nocked and fired. Velvet gave a soft cry as she raced in to attack, joined by the rest of my pets as I called for a stampede.

Faintly I heard Schio call out "Reflection!" and gasped to myself as a puddle of darkness appeared beneath me. I leaped out of the way, and just in time too. Where I'd been standing exploded with darkness, and from it appeared a little sha creature - a reflection. I back pedaled just a bit and shivered as darkness slithered over my skin. I realized I'd stepped on something, but I couldn't tell what it had been. I saw Xallion bolt halfway across the room toward a white scar glowing in the left corner near Niarweaver and Greymoon, and as he crossed it, it vanished. I realized I must've stepped across one of those scars without knowing it. I heard Schio call out, "Rifts, our side left! And right!" A glance to each side showed me that those scars had been exactly what Xallion and I had run over.

I refocused on the Sha. Then I found myself in a strange room, a room that looked remarkably similar to the one I'd been in with my friends. Only now I was alone. I realized too I couldn't control my body. I began running forward, and just as I reached a breach in a shadowy wall, I saw a sha creature about as big as me flash by. And then, ahead, was another one coming right at me! I tried to fire at it, but my arms wouldn't obey my commands. I could see its gleaming maw open and ready to snap closed-

-and then I was back with my friends. I gasped for air and felt a hand grip my arm. I looked at Nakti, then gave her a nod to tell her I was okay. She offered a smile before she went back to attacking the Sha of Pride.

"Prison!" Cried Schio.

I almost questioned what she meant when all of a sudden a pillar of light shot up nearby, and I saw Sabaak caught in the throes of the light. I quickly followed several others toward the pillar of light, and watched as two plates lit up when we stood in them. Once they were both lit, Sabaak dropped to the ground.

He gave a weak laugh. "Man, that sucks." Then he readied his blade and rejoined Mistahtea and Helpfuldeath at the Sha's back.

I returned to my spot and continued firing. I saw Schio turn suddenly and face behind us. I turned with her, and saw another monster leering at us with a wicked smile. Schio's chaos bolt and my explosive shot hit the monster at the same time, and then Helpful was there, gripping it closer to us. It died seconds before the Sha of Pride unleashed a devastating attack on us. I doubled over in pain as shadow magic, and something else, coursed through me. I regained my footing just as Xallion's healing spell washed over me, and I nodded in thanks to him. He grinned and turned his attention to the others.

For the better part of a minute - for the fight was going so fast - we ran to close rifts, to get others out of the same shadowy world I had been taken to, avoiding the little shas that appeared, as well as getting people out of prisons and killing the larger add that was summoned. It was going well, or so I thought. Just when I thought we were going to win, the Sha of Pride focused on Norushen. We watched in horror as the Titan guardian crumpled to his knees, then fell over entirely and didn't get back up.

"Is he...?" I couldn't bring myself to finish the question. I wasn't sure it'd be answered, if I'd been heard over the Sha's laughter.

"Yeah," Kyel responded. Thankfully, he didn't elaborate.

A second later, I felt the power of bloodlust rush through me. I blinked the tears away and raised my bow, firing as fast as I could and utilizing every spell I had. Shot after shot, I plunged arrows into the Sha's body, enough to kill a mushan beast ten times over. I kept firing, angry at Garrosh for awakening the beast, angry with myself for not being able to save Norushen. I nocked my last arrow and aimed at the Sha of Pride's head, drawing my bowstring as far back as I could for what had to be a kill shot.

I fired.

My arrow sailed through the air, hitting the Sha's shadowy body so hard the arrow sunk in almost to the fletching. The Sha of Pride turned away from Greymoon and Niarweaver just for a moment, and I saw it look right at us. I glared at it, my bow still raised from my attack. It raised a claw, like it was going to attack, and then it crumpled to the floor. I stared at it, expecting it to do something.

I'm not proud to admit I jumped when the doors to the chamber flew open. I raised my bow, expecting an attack, but it was only Lorewalker Cho. And with him was Lady Jaina Proudmoore and Regent-Lord Lor'themar Theron. Who, seemingly, were bickering with each other over the goings on outside this chamber.

I retrieved my arrows as Nakti retrieved hers, and then we hurried to follow the others through the portal Lor'themar had created. I paused before going through, and felt a shiver course through me.

We were heading to Orgrimmar. The siege had begun.


	5. Chapter 5

Galakras

Written to Skyfall by Adele

Greymoon - Tauren Druid - guardian

I stepped through the portal, unsure of what would be on the other side. Obviously Orgrimmar, but where? To my surprise, I appeared on a small Thalassian vessel. Near the back of it was Rommath, and he gave me an arch look as I stepped toward him. As he summoned another portal, I ignored what he had to say, stepping through the portal as soon as it was ready. I didn't need to hear what he said - I already knew it was dangerous. My friends were counting on me, though, to be their shield while they attacked from afar or behind the enemy. My role as a guardian Druid was to be in the face of danger, and take on the full brunt of fury our enemies had. Thankfully, I had a brief respite as the second portal deposited me at the end of the pier on Orgrimmar's beach. I took a moment to look around, and decided I didn't like what I saw. Oh, I'd known that Garrosh had made significant changes to the beach and the harbor, but what I saw now looked to be set up just for a naval assault, and Lor'themar and the Alliance had obliged them.

I understood now what we had to do.

I changed shape quickly, and raced toward the edge of the pier, my paws kicking up red dust as I left the pier and encountered solid ground. Ahead, I saw warriors and shamans loyal to Garrosh guarding giant cannons - cannons that would be turned against our ships if that came within firing distance. I glanced behind me. The rest of the group was catching up, so I charged into the first group. I caught them by surprise, my claws tearing open rents in flesh and cloth alike. They stabbed at me with swords and burned me with fire and lightning, but then Xallion was there and my wounds pained me no more. It didn't take long for the others to enter the fray, and soon the group of orcs lay dead at my feet. I charged the next group.

I led the charge down the beach, clearing out the small groups of enemy warriors and shaman as we went. Nph gleefully used the cannons against the orcs, firing on them - and us - and doing what he could to help the fight go faster. When all the groups were gone, we raced back to the dock. Helpfuldeath lagged behind a little to activate the bombs laying beside the cannons. Each one exploded onto sharp fragments of metal and wood as the bombs detonated.

"What?" He asked when he rejoined us. "It's not like we can take them with us."

Suddenly, light flared, and we were joined by part of the Silvermoon army. Constructs and soldiers, as well as Lor'themar, Rommath, and surprisingly, Sylvanas. We all gave her a wide berth. No one wanted to cross her and end up a Forsaken. Or worse.

I looked up toward the two towers that crowned the landing. I could see snipers up there, as well as a massive cannon. Even more disturbing, the Dragonmaw were in the sky, their proto-Drake mounts flying to and fro. And then there was the monstrous beast, the one that we were no doubt going to have to fight, being ridden by Zaela herself - Galakras. I looked at Niarweaver. She was fixing her gauntlets, tightening them on her slim forearms. She smirked at me when she realized I was looking at her. "So," I asked, "do you want to take the towers, or do you want to stay down?"

She considered it. "I'll stay down. But you'd better take some people with you. Looks like you might have trouble if you go by yourself."

I frowned but nodded. "Who wants to go up with me?" I asked.

"I'll go." Said Mistahtea.

"Same," said Kyel.

Nph let out a huge sigh. "I guess I'll go with you. You'll need a healer."

"Still need one more for the tower team." I said. As I expected, no one was quick to volunteer. So Xallion looked right at Schio. The slim blood elf stared at him for a minute, then grimaced as she realized he was volunteering her.

She shrugged. "Yeah, find, whatever. I'll go up too."

"Now that that's decided," Niarweaver said with a smile, "shall we get this party started?"

I looked around at the others. Their faces all had determined looks on them, and each one gave me a go-ahead nod. I looked at Niar. "Go get in position."

She saluted smartly and hurried to the head of the group of soldiers. The others followed, ranging themselves around her as they pleased. I assumed my bear form once more and went to talk with Lor'themar. Once I told him we were ready, Lor'themar gave me a nod and looked back at Sylvanas and Rommath. I didn't hear what they said to each other; I was already hurrying to join Niar and the others at the road between the two towers. I caught a glimpse of Nakti and Julip by the left tower, their bows ready. Schio and Kyel were stationed by the left side of the road on a small rise, and the others were arrayed about the middle of the road, ready for the first sign of attack.

And the Dragonmaw obliged us.

A group of them rushed at us. Niarweaver met them halfway and I joined her. Together we tore into them, gaining their attention so that the others, like Helpful and Sabaak and the warlocks' demons, could attack them without fear of retaliation. Some of the attackers went down fast, but I realized that our group was smaller than it should be. There had been two more attackers than Niar and I had around us.

"Hey, Helpful," Xallion called. "Do that useful thing death knights can do."

I could hear the exasperation in Helpfuldeath's voice as he responded, "Dammit, Xallion. I'm doing what I can."

I saw him move past me and the next thing I knew, a gunner was now among us. I turned to him and began to claw at his face, making sure he was firing at me rather than someone else. Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet turned molten, but strangely enough it didn't hurt me. It hurt our enemies, catching some parts of them on fire or blowing a limb off entirely. I caught a glimpse of Rommath's face and realized _he_ had been the one to turn the ground molten with a spell. I was grateful for that, because it somewhat lessened the workload for the rest of us. I charged after a warrior intent on charging Sylvanas and interrupted the bastard's charge, bringing him down with one of my own. When I whirled around, another group was heading right toward Niarweaver and the others. I charged back into the fray and met one of the warriors, dodging the heavy-handed swing of his sword. I leaped toward his solar plexus, and as I'd assumed, he flinched at the sight of a bear leaping at him. My claws caught his shoulder and I bore him to the ground, where I mauled off half his face.

It didn't take long for the second group to be dispatched. As I repositioned myself for the next wave, I saw Julip spring to the ground from the tower hill and start racing for the other side. Nakti wasn't too far behind her. I couldn't spare them another thought because the enemy had attacked again, just three this time. We beat down the two smaller fighters, but the third one was giving us some trouble. Just when I thought it was over, a noxious poison filled the area. I stopped breathing, jumping out of the cloud as soon as I could. I took a deep breath of clean air and saw that my enemy had now turned into a snake. I growled and launched myself at her, tearing her to pieces as fast as I could.

Then the ground began to rumble.

"Demo!" Cried Xallion, pointing at the head of the road. Down it was rolling a demolisher, one of the Horde's favorite siege engines. It didn't take long to see what our enemies intended to do with it. At first, I thought it was going to come at us, but at the last second, it turned to face the left tower and began throwing stones at it.

"She's trying to bring down her own towers!" Yelled Lor'themar. He was surprised too; assets like a demolisher would be better used taking out the enemy, not your own holdings.

All the same, though, I rushed the demolisher, joined by Schio's floating eyeball demon, Kyel's felguard, Helpfuldeath, and Sabaak. Together, we brought the machine down before I caused too much damage to the tower, then I turned and raced to join my team at the base of the tower.

I ran in first, roaring to gain the attention of the orcs inside. They gave surprised shouts and followed me up the winding stairs. I emerged out onto the top of the tower and engaged the enemies there, focusing my effort not on the small fry, but the general who bellowed at me. I gave a bellow of my own and focused on keeping his attention on me rather than my team. Surprisingly, the gunners ignored us in favor of shooting at those we'd left on the ground to deal with the warriors still running in.

A minute... two... passed before the General went down. I turned my attention to the gunners while Mistahtea ran over to a coiled rope and dropped it down the side of the tower. The last of the gunners fell as the warlocks and Helpful hurried down the tower. I stayed behind for a few moments, jumping into the massive cannon. I aimed toward the proto-drakes hovering in the air, and fired the cannon. The cannonballs hit the proto-drakes hard, breaking bones and punching through flesh. They fell from the sky and hit the ground hard enough to shake the tower. Then I turned the cannon on Galakras and fired. The shot didn't bring him down, but it sent him reeling. I leaped from the cannon before he could retaliate and hurried to rejoin the others for the next wave.

Down below, it was all confusion. Everyone was fighting so intently, I almost didn't notice that Nakti and Julip had rejoined us. That made things go faster, and I found myself with nothing to hit for a few seconds. Then I felt the rumbling of another demolisher heading our way, and this time it was accompanied by another group of warriors and shaman. I launched into an attack as fast as I could to give the others time to focus down the demolisher. As soon as it was a pile of rubble, I charged up the right hand hill, rejoining my team as we headed into the tower. It was much the same situation as the first tower, only this time after the general and her minions fell, Mistahtea hurried down the tower and across the road back to the first tower. As I took out the proto-drakes hovering in the air, he quickly climbed into the other cannon. Or so I assumed.

I don't know how we pulled off what happened next. He and I had no communication once we'd split up, but maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was luck. All I know is that we both aimed at Galakras and fired at the same time. The two cannonballs hit the massive proto-drake dead on, breaking his wings and driving him to the ground. His rider, Warlord Zaela, was knocked from her saddle with bone-breaking force. I never saw her land, and there was no sign of her body when I reached the ground. I charged the fallen dragon anyway, turning him toward the waterfront and leaving his back open for the others to attack. I felt the bloodlust course through me a few moments later; my attacks became frenzied, and I made sure Galakras wasn't going anywhere unless I let him.

The dragon fought bravely, I had to give him that. Still, he was no match for us, especially when we were aided by a few of the leaders of our faction. My claws opened bloody furrows in scaly flesh; I broke bone with powerful bites of my jaws. I could hear the howls of spells, feel the touch of healing rains and the Light. I leaped backwards as Galakras suddenly staggered. The great proto-drake swayed on his two little feet, back and forth, back and forth, and then he collapsed in a heap of broken bones and seared scales. I stood panting as is watched his body twitch. At last, it was still.

I looked up the road to the Gates of Orgrimmar, to our next fight, and wondered why everything had come to this - Horde fighting Horde. What was it all for?


	6. Chapter 6

Iron Juggernaut

Written to Pompeii by Bastille

Helpfuldeath - Orc death knight - frost

We raced up the road toward the Gates of Orgrimmar as fast as we could, barely slowing to weave our mounts around the trolls stationed there. Surprise flashed through me as I saw Baine and Vol'jin standing close to the gates. Or as close to the gates as they could without catching the attention of the giant mechanical scorpion that guarded the path to the gate that led into the actual city. I stared open-mouthed at the thing, the Iron Juggernaut, as I heard it called. We're going to have to fight _that_? I didn't want to get near it! It was too late, though, because the moment Vol'jin saw the first of us, he was already sending in the reserves. And that iron monster slaughtered them. There was no mercy; every troll that went up against that metal beast died, and they died hard and painfully. There was nothing we could do for them save get revenge when we finally brought the Juggernaut down.

We slipped by it be some miracle and congregated in the wide open space, the space that had once been part of the road that led to the beach - the beach we'd just come from - before it had been gated off by a metal fence. I had no idea what to expect, only that I'd have to get close to it and beat at it with my rune blades. I noticed others in the group shared my sentiment, though they didn't bother to voice their opinions. The Iron Juggernaut was in our way, and it was going to have to go down. I looked at Xallion. He was our leader, our planner, and so it fell to him to make sure everyone was ready to start fighting for their very lives. I rolled my shoulders; I was tense. If my heart was still capable of beating, I'm sure it'd be going twice as fast as it should.

As usual, we waited for Greymoon to make the call to action. I balanced on the balls of my feet, my swords ready in my hands. I made sure that I'd eaten something - never knew when the last meal was coming, and yeah sure, being dead meant I didn't actually _have _to eat, but I liked the way the food tasted - and that I'd drunk my flask. I was ready to go as I'd ever be.

And, like an arrow shot from a hunter's bow, I surged forward after Grey and Niar. Beside me was Mistahtea and Sabaak. I reached the Juggernaut first and began laying into its metal hull as hard as I could, activating rune after rune to augment my power. I felt the bloodlust make my dead blood surge, and my swings became heavier and harder. Faster. More powerful. I chipped away metal from the beast, doing what I could to try and bring it down.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a huge dark shadow appear above me. It grew steadily bigger as the seconds passed, and only at the last second I realized that it was something falling from above at me. I managed to dodge it in time, but it still left me reeling from the sound and force of the impact. I felt cool healing magic was over me, and immediately went back to fighting. From my angle, I got a brief glimpse of what the Juggernaut was doing to my friends. I watched them leap out of the way of earth spikes and, ironically enough, I was forced to dodge them too. I sidestepped a whirling saw blade, then felt it scrape against the left side of my armor. I wasn't hurt, thankfully, but it gave me one of the biggest scare of my life. Uh, unlife? After life? Whatever.

I kept attacking until I heard a faint voice call something out. It was barely discernible over the noise coming from the Juggernaut, but a glance told me that everyone was stacking up in Xallion's healing rain. I quickly ran to join them, but mid-stride I found myself being propelled through the air. I hit the ground hard, pitched forward and turned my rather ungraceful fall into as best a roll as I could manage in heavy plate armor. I came back to my feet in time to slide through an oil patch. Yeah, it wasn't really the best of moments. I managed to get out of the oil slick and into dry ground just in time to nearly be brained by a falling bomb. I leaped out of the way and hurried back to Xallion's healing rain just in time to be blasted backwards again. The others were being treated the same way I was, able to run forward the barest of inches before being blasted back against the escarpment behind us. We were blasted back one last time - and just like the times before, someone was moving quickly away from the rest of us with a laser beam following them, a laser beam that set fire to an oil slick which ultimately exploded - and then the Juggernaut started toward us again.

I had to laugh, because now it was just a repeat of the first part of the fight. I hacked my way through metal again. Again I had to dodge earth spikes and flying spinning blades and falling bombs. Again we fought as hard as we could through all of this bombardment. It wasn't easy, but soon we were facing that knock back again, only this time we were facing the opposite side. We still had to dodge oil slicks and bombs and the laser of fiery death, but this time we knew what to do, and had an easier time of it. We countered the three knock backs and then, as we knew he would, the Juggernaut came at us again. Of course, now it was barely able to stand on its legs, and was springing leaks and exploding here and there with showers of sparks and letting off clouds of steam and vapor. A few more hits and it would be a pile of slag.

It didn't take a 'few' more hits, it took almost ten minutes more before the Iron Juggernaut finally groaned, its last grinding gear sticking as the nuts and bolts holding it together finally began to break apart under our onslaught. It listed to one side, then to the other, taking a few drunken steps forward and back until finally-

BOOM

-the Iron Juggernaut crumpled to the ground, a mess of smoking metal, springs, gyros, and whatever else had gone into creating it. We took a moment to catch our breath, and I lifted up my rune blades to make sure the edges hadn't been damaged. Then I looked to the gate of Orgrimmar, and watched as a slew of night elves assaulted the gates, breaking then down of us. At their head was Tyrande Whisperwind. She was shouting orders to the warriors, and we used the opportunity to slip past the Kor'kron defenders.

At last, we were in the city.


	7. Chapter 7

Kor'kron Dark Shaman

Written to The Gunsling by Black Veil Brides

Niarweaver - blood elf death knight - blood

We fought our way past the blind warrior guarding the tunnel - though how _that_ made sense, I'd never know - and met up with, surprisingly Aysa Cloudsinger, the Pandaren who practiced Tushui and had joined the Alliance. I didn't have to ask why she was here - the answer was obvious if anyone just chose to look. She was staring across the way toward a group of Kor'kron generals, who were surrounding another Pandaren. A male that I immediately recognized as Ji Firepaw. He was Aysa's complete opposite, practicing Huojin and siding with the Horde. Yeah, I was wondering if he was regretting that choice now, especially since he looked like shit. I watched as one of the orcs raised a fist to punch Ji in the face, yelling something about... Loyalty? Betrayal? I didn't really much pay attention after Aysa started spouting things like "We must save him!" I rolled my eyes a bit and pulled my rune blade from its sheath.

Then I casually tossed a blood boil on the closest group to me. They were dead in a matter of minutes between me, Grey, and the rest of the team. Then we followed Grey's lead and started making our destructive way through the Valley of Strength. Things died hard, things died fast. There were a few close calls as dark shaman and shadow mages got casts off on us, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. These were the small fry after all. They didn't put up too much of a fight.

We cleared the whole Valley in a little under five minutes, leaving nothing but corpses or fleeing captives in our wake. When we finally made it back to the center of the Valley of Strength, we readied ourselves for the main event.

And then...

"'Ey mon! Find da key! Let us out!"

We all looked back up the hill at the troll in the cage. Beside him, in another cage, was a dwarf. Both looked to be shaman. I understood the dwarf being in a cage, but the troll? I shrugged my shoulders as if there was extra weight settling on them, then called back, "Okay! So who has the key?"

The troll pointed at the Valley of Strength bank that stood quiet just behind us to our left. I had a bad feeling grow in my gut as I approached the bank. It was justified as soon as I poked my head inside to see if I could spot the key.

I jumped backwards as the Orc came at me, his robes rather richly styled. On instinct, I brought my blade to bear on him and began my opening sequence of attacks, trying to keep the treasurer's attention on me. Not that it wasn't hard to do, at least until the bastard started digging coins out of his pockets and tossing them at my friends. I knew what he was trying to do - mind control my team into turning on me - and, damn him, he was succeeding. I ignored the cries as much as I could, since the others were taking care of the mind-controlled with stuns or snares. And then I felt a shiver of cold go down my back.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and felt what amounted to my blood drain from my face. Schio was turning toward Xallion, her hands covered in fel energy. I tried to shout a warning but it was too late. The chaos bolt flew and the next thing I saw was Xallion dropping dead to the ground. Seconds after he dropped, so too did the treasurer.

"I'm sorry," Schio said between hiccuping laughter, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it!"

Xallion picked himself up once the resurrection spell had been cast and dusted off his robes. "Ya coulda warned me, or somethin'."

"And what good would it have done?"

I laughed, deep and booming. "She's got a point."

Schio shot me a grin and a shrug, then turned toward Xallion again and apologized at least twice more. Xallion rolled his eyes and sighed.

I turned back to the fallen treasurer and began rooting through his pockets. I found two keys made of gold. I looked up at the troll and dwarf, then made my way toward them. I unlocked the cages and got a thanks from the troll before he put a totem down, and the dwarf followed suit, though he didn't say much. So now we had two totems, and two shaman booking it for the gate. Awesome.

I looked toward the tower in the center of the Valley of Strength and gripped the hilt of my rune blade tight. I knew what was waiting for us in there, and I didn't like it. A warm hand fell on my shoulder, and I looked up at Grey. "So which one do you want?" I asked.

"I'll take Earthbreaker," he rumbled. "Me, Helpful, Xallion, and Mistahtea will go up the hill and hold him there."

"Guess that means I get to keep Nph and the others."

"I think you have the harder job."

"Wanna switch?"

Greymoon laughed. "No."

I smirked. "Didn't think so."

Once we'd worked out the finer details, we made our preparations. Then, Xallion sent Julip inside the tower to lure the Kor'kron Dark Shaman out of their little hidey hole, using her feign death ability to trick them to charge outside, where we'd meet them. She dismissed Velvet, then took a deep breath. I watched her steel herself then she was running toward the tower and disappearing inside.

Seconds later we all heard a rough yell and then the two dark shaman came riding out of the tower, looking around for the rest of us. As soon as they spotted Grey charging toward them, they readied their weapons and their mounts. I leaped onto Kardris as soon as I could, making sure I had her attention. Blood boil and several other spells went off in quick succession as I dodged and parried her attacks. I ignored their yelling; it didn't matter. What mattered was surviving this and moving on to the real prize. And that lay at the end of this journey into our capital city.

I saw the wolves drop and Grey began to pull Earthbreaker toward the hill. His group was soon out of my line of sight. I silently wished them good luck and focused on the Wavebinder. She laughed at me. "And what do you think you can do against us?" She crowed. "We are the rulers of the world! The rightful owners of Azeroth."

"Like I care." I responded, hitting Kardris hard in the gut. My blade didn't do much more than give her a bruise. "You're just in our way."

She gave me an incredulous look, then began to hit harder. I could tell she was wearing down; she was being assaulted from all sides by ranged and a single melee, after all. It also seemed like she was sharing in the damage that Haromm was taking as well. Perhaps we'd win this after all.

Then my world suddenly darkened and I began to feel strength ebbing out of my limbs. Cursing, I leaped out of the shadow vortex and pulled Kardris through it. Not surprisingly, she was unharmed, which told me that the dome of shadow was either hers, or Haromm's. I caught a glimpse of other domes and realized they'd formed where the others had been standing. I clenched my teeth and continued to beat Kardris down with my sword and spells, feeling healing magic course through me, and feeling my own healing spells bolster my strength. I dragged her toward where the cages were, avoiding the purple tornado that suddenly appeared and quickly rushing through the newest purple dome that appeared. And then, things seemed to go to hell.

All of a sudden, Wavebinder stopped in her tracks and raised her hand to the sky. There was a terrible grin on her face as she did it, so I knew something bad was coming.

"Niar!" I heard Sabaak yell. "Behind you!"

Since Wavebinder was stone still for the moment, I turned around and cursed. Slimes were popping up, appearing out of an acid rain that fell in an arc from Kardris to the area behind me. I ran over, dropping a blood boil circle on the slimes. They focused on me - and then were punctured full of holes by arrows and burned to vapor by fire as the hunters and warlocks turned on them to not only kill them, but lessen the pressure on me as I turned back to the Wavebinder. I kited her up the hill toward the entrance of the Valley, dodging more shadow domes and tornadoes as we went. Again, she paused to call out more slimes, and as she rejoined battle with me, I saw her stagger a little.

I grinned. I couldn't help myself. Between the assault we were making on her, and the assault Grey's team was making on her partner, they would be no match for us in a little while.

And then the ground turned dark red beneath me.

And I looked up to see a giant meteor coming my way.

"Shit." I said succinctly.

Kardris laughed and closed with me to try and keep me in place. I managed to evade her strikes and bolted out from that large shadow as quick as I could. Having no choice, she followed me. I nearly stumbled as the ground shook with the meteor's impact. I felt heat sear across my skin anyway, even though I was far enough away not to take a death blow. It still _hurt,_ still made me flinch and stagger backwards as I fought to keep Wavebinder focused on me. She summoned more shadow domes, and more slimes, and as we made it to the base of the hill where Grey and the others fought, I saw Kardris glance up the hill.

I'm not sure what happened next. Between the latest meteor impact and the newest slimes, Kardris' attacks suddenly came faster and stronger, and it was all I could to do parry or dodge them, and get in strikes of my own. I realized that she must have used bloodlust. It was the only explanation. I saw Nph out of the corner of my eye quickly digging in his pack. He pulled out a drum and hit it. Hard. I felt power fill me as the drum's reverberations reached me. My strikes became harder, faster. I saw Kardris' face screw up in pain as spell and arrow and sword continued to hack at her with more power than before. She staggered.

I raised my rune blade and plunged it directly into her chest, right into her heart. Wavebinder stared at me, like she couldn't quite believe what was going on. So, slowly, I pulled my rune blade from her chest and let her stare at the blood coating the blade. It was the last thing she ever saw.

I wiped clean my rune blade and resheathed it, and then trudged up the hill with the others to rejoin Greymoon and his team, passing the corpse of Haromm as we did so. I noticed a trickle of blood on his chin, and smiled. Guess they shared more than just corrupt shamanism.


	8. Chapter 8

General Nazgrim

Written to Demons by Imagine Dragons

Kyel - blood elf warlock - demonology

Once the two blind warriors had been dealt with, we continued on down the Drag and were immediately confronted by siege engines lobbing fireballs at us and an Orc commander that Grey quickly mauled while the rest of us blew up the engines. At the mouth of the cave leading down into the Cleft of Shadows, we paused to look at Xallion. "What should we do about him?" Nakti asked him.

'Him' was Gamon, who was chained to the tree we'd fought around. His eyes regarded us pleadingly, but Xallion just shrugged and said, "Leave him. We can come back for him."

"Suits me." I quipped, then followed the rest of the team down into the Cleft. We had to fight another group of dark shaman and then paused at the top of the path to regard the warlocks and dark shaman locked in a battle against a giant doom lord.

"So," said Niar, "do we help them?"

In response, I dismissed my felguard and jumped down the side of the cliff, landing in front of the cave that led deeper underground. I heard the others dismiss their pets and minions, and then they followed me off the cliff to the path below. And so, for the first time since we started this war, we managed to avoid _one_ fight. One measly little fight out of countless fights and hours spent killing or avoiding being killed. One fight avoided, but as soon as we rounded the corner we ran smack into four Orc mages, who immediately started trying to kill us.

We didn't even give them a chance to regret their actions.

Once the mages were lying in pools of blood behind us, we started up the hill and found ourselves face to face with assassins. Not very good assassins, considering we had surprised them, and they all focused on one or two of us so the rest of us were free to murder them. I almost laughed at the irony of it all, but I didn't. At least, not out loud. When we were finally done with them, we crested the hill only to find the path filled by dark shaman and their healing totems. The whole fight was a pain in the ass, because we had to hang back and wait for Niarweaver to pull a shaman back to us, away from the others and their totems, so we could kill them. And they _would _be casting healing spells the entire time we were trying to kill them.

Eventually, we managed to beat down the shaman and came to the threshold of an opening into a wide chamber. And standing there, guarding the far end of the room, was General Nazgrim. The tension in the group was so thick I'm pretty sure we probably would've snapped if we were touched the wrong way. Up until now, everything we'd fought had been impersonal. We hadn't cared who it was we were giving a dirt nap; we just killed it and moved on. Now, though... Now it was a little more personal. We _knew_ Nazgrim. We'd fought alongside him. Maybe we weren't friends, but we knew him well enough that fighting him would be our worst nightmare and then some.

But we stepped into the room anyway, and began the assault on the iron blades in front of us. Once they were gone, we focused on Nazgrim and the army in front of us. Nazgrim eyed all of us and readied his weapons. As soon as we were ready, Greymoon let out a roar and charged into the midst of them, jumping on Nazgrim as soon as he was close enough and sinking his teeth into Nazgrim's forearm as deep as he could. The rest of us began our assault, destroying the army in a matter of seconds and focusing on Nazgrim. I shifted out if the way as Grey lured Nazgrim away from the door he'd been guarding to the opposite side of the room, where he, Niarweaver, Helpfuldeath, and Sabaak whacked at him with their swords. Or claws. The rest of us stood at range, firing off spells and arrows as fast as we could.

Suddenly, Nazgrim leaped away from Greymoon toward Julip, and as soon as he landed, yellow shock waves spread out toward us. One of those waves ended under my feet, and I just barely got away in time before the ground where I'd been standing exploded.

Well.

"First wave!" I heard Schio cry out. "Mage, warrior, rogue!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw them appear just as she said, and I saw Helpfuldeath's death grip go out toward the Mage, dragging it into the fray of the melee. I turned toward Julip and found she was under the assault of the rogue. It didn't last long - the rogue dropped dead just seconds after the Mage, my felguard's blade piercing the rogue's chest. The demon laughed as he turned his attention to the iron blade, the next target I ordered him to go after.

"Banner!" Xallion yelled over the din.

I turned toward the giant banner and calmly set it ablaze. Wood crackled and smoked as the fire ate it away, and before long it toppled to the ground, a pile of wood chips and burnt cloth. I heard Schio cry out again, and once again, my attention was diverted to the incoming fighters. In the midst of all this, I still had to avoid the shit on the ground and kill the banners Nazgrim dropped to empower himself. And then, just when I thought things were going well, Xallion suddenly yelled, "Stop attackin'!"

I cut off my spell and looked at him incredulously. "Why?" I asked, a little harsher than I intended. "We're winning."

Xallion looked at me. "'Cause he's in defensive stance, an' if anyone but tanks an' pets attack him, we get more shit ta deal with."

"Ah,"

Not the best of my replies, but it summed up everything. Still, we weren't about to be left standing around doing nothing. Nazgrim kept summoning mages, rogues, warriors, hunters, and shaman for us to play with, so between those and any banners he dropped, we were kept busy until he shifted stances again.

As soon as he shifted, we focused on Nazgrim, trying to bring him down. I released my imps and assumed my demonic form, launching spells at not only Nazgrim, but the iron blade up with him. We continued the cycle until Schio called out for the last wave, and we tore those three newest soldiers apart. I turned back to Nazgrim and prepared myself for the final assault on him. I wasn't surprised when he assumed his defensive stance, but I felt the bloodlust enter my veins and heard the battle cry from Xallion to burn Nazgrim down. I activated my demonic form again, summoned my imps and my doomguard, and ordered my felguard to tear Nazgrim apart. With my felguard raced Julip's and Nakti's beasts, and I saw Schio's doomguard join mine.

Nazgrim let out a bellowing call.

We became surrounded.

"Ignore dem!" Cried Xallion, his hands lifting in supplication for a healing rain over him, Julip, and Nakti. "Focus Nazgrim! Bring him down!"

Baring my teeth in a grin, I launched all the spells in my repertoire, hitting Nazgrim with everything I had. It didn't seem like enough - it never seemed like enough - but I saw him stumble, saw him go down on one knee. Niarweaver and Greymoon seized the opportunity and launched a salvo of attacks that Nazgrim couldn't hope to defend himself from, not when he was besieged on all sides by spell and sword and arrow.

He went down hard.

And didn't get back up.

Whatever his final words were, I didn't hear them, but my heart was a little heavy with the knowledge that Nazgrim had died for the dream of a monster. If this was what Garrosh's Horde was going to do to good people, then I was glad I was here to bring him down. Or die trying.


	9. Chapter 9

Malkorok

Written to Dog Days are Over by Florence + the Machine

Nph - blood elf paladin - holy

It was a solemn departure from the chamber that had now become Nazgrim's tomb. With him gone, the door had opened, allowing us to take the elevator down below. I wasn't surprised that there was a secret base beneath Orgrimmar. When Garrosh had taken control, he'd changed the city from rocks and teamwork to iron and cruelty. It fit with his paranoia that there's be a secret hideaway that he'd run to when things began to look like he was on the losing end. There was also some sort of symmetry though, with him being in the bowels of the earth. It was like he was a viper, waiting for the right time to strike from his underground nest. Or, he was just waiting for his prey to come to him. And it would come.

We were on our way to kill him. We of Illuminatus were coming to him, slowly but surely, and destroying everything in our way to do it.

When the elevator reached the bottom, I followed the others off and down a long tunnel that opened up into a chamber filled with orcs. Warriors, wolf riders, snipers - Garrosh wasn't lacking for followers, or fodder for those who were coming after him. They'd slow us down, allow him and his men to prepare, but eventually we'd reach him and make him pay for what he'd done.

Since the mobs between us and the staircase to the next room weren't so tough, I conserved my mana and only healed when it was necessary. I was confident Xallion would be able to keep everyone up with minimal help on my part. Not that I didn't heal, I just wasn't trying very hard.

We managed to skirt a few groups, but we still carved a bloody path through this room and the one beyond it. When he reached the stairs we were careful not to attract the attention of the groups to the left. Why they didn't bother to stop us, I'll never know, but maybe they didn't think we'd make it past the next room and they'd be tossing our corpses to the wolves.

The long staircase took us through a small group of soldiers and across a wooden walkway. As I jogged up the next set of stairs, I hesitated slightly upon seeing just what - or who, rather - was waiting for us. The room was circular, almost like an arena setting. We positioned ourselves similar to the way we'd positioned ourselves for Immerseus, leaving one quadrant of the room open at Xallion's request. The fact that the creature waiting for us let us do it unnerved me. The fact that he let us get behind him unnerved me. The fact that he only laughed at us made me want to kick his ass.

Malkorok leered at those who were in front of him, a grotesque grin on his face.

I knew that Garrosh had done experiments with the Sha upon his followers, especially his warriors, seeking to make them more powerful. As far as I knew, all had failed, and those failed experiments had been... dealt with. But it seemed that one had succeeded, and it really didn't surprise me once I thought about it. Malkorok was as cruel as cruel could be, with a shriveled black heart that looked to violence to settle things. He was a bastard. A cold, calculating, shrewd, nasty bastard. And in his altered form, his outside finally matched his inside in ugliness.

I checked my mana potions, having a feeling I was going to need them. Xallion and I had already gone over our healing plan, and knew what to do in case one of us faltered or was trapped on one side of the room and out of range of someone.

Greymoon looked to Xallion, then charged.

Malkorok gave a nasty grin and focused on Grey, raising his hand to try and squash him. I threw a spell Greymoon's way and strengthened his shield as Malkorok beat on him. I sent out healing to those I could touch, strengthening the shields around them as they fought Malkorok either up close or at a distance. It wasn't difficult, as far as fights went, and Xallion's bloodlust helped me cast spells in quick succession that anyone who needed healing quickly got it. Then something hit me from the side, interrupting my spell casting and leaving my healing shield dented. I glanced to my left and saw a glowing orb just floating there, doing absolutely nothing.

Until I got knocked into it, and it knocked the breath out of me.

I picked myself up quickly to avoid bring caught in Malkorok's slam attack and dodged more orbs as I fought to find clear space. Then to make matters even worse, I suddenly found myself flying upwards. And I found myself thinking, God, this view sucks. Then I plummeted back down to the floor. I managed to shield myself in time to avoid breaking bones upon my landing, but as soon as my feet touched the floor, I knew I was in trouble. A purple blob had formed and was now looking at me like I was a tasty snack for it to eat. I gave a nervous laugh, then yelled, "Niar!" I tried to run, but it was like I was caught in molasses, and that purple thing was getting closer. Did it... did it have teeth?

Niarweaver turned to look at me, probably to snap at me, then spotted the purple thing about to eat my face. She snapped something at Grey, and taunted Malkorok to fight her. Grey charged to me, swiping at the purple blob. The moment it turned to look at him, I was free, and I found a relatively safe place to stand. Not that I stood there for every long, because soon the floor was starting to turn purple as Malkorok drew on the Sha's powers.

Xallion yelled, "Get in!"

And so we gathered in a tight group in the space we'd left clear, which was thankfully clear of orbs courtesy of Nakti's deterrence ability. I cast healing spell after healing spell on the tanks, doing what I could to keep them up, as well as dispelling those who were trapped by the corruption spell. As soon as the powers were gone, we resumed our positions again as Julip circled the room as fast as she could, clearing more orbs.

We fought hard. Malkorok fought harder.

I tried as hard as I could to keep him up, but Greymoon fell under Malkorok's onslaught. He was quick to revive, and the pillar of darkness told me one of the warlocks had used their soul stone to bring him back to life. I threw countless spells toward Greymoon, struggling to shield him when he taunted back off of Niarweaver. Again, we had to dodge bubbles to reach our safe zone, and this time we packed even tighter together. I shielded as many people as I could, healed as many people as I could. Something bad was going to happen, I just knew it. And it did. Malkorok started hitting Greymoon and Niarweaver as hard as he could without really making them red smears on the ground. I thought we were done for, because if even one person dropped, we were done. But then Malkorok stumbled. It was just a buckle of the knee, but it was a stumble nonetheless.

Chaos bolts flew in over my head. Imps shot fireballs from my immediate left while wolves, sporebats, core hounds, and cats clawed and bit at Malkorok's arms and legs. One even tried to go for his throat. Swords flashed in the scant light that glowed in the room, and an army of the dead clawed at Malkorok's flesh, sensing the weakness that we could see. I was panting at this point, feeling the drain of my mana acutely. Then Xallion activated his mana tide and I felt vitality enter my tired limbs. It was enough for me to cast the healing spells that I needed to to keep us alive, for the last stressful minutes of the fight.

Malkorok fell to his knees, Greymoon's teeth sunk deep in his throat. I threw a shielding spell around Grey to keep the rune blade howling in toward Malkorok's neck from slicing Grey. Greymoon released Malkorok and leaped back, just before Niarweaver's rune blade cut into Malkorok's neck and severed his spinal cord. I saw Sabaak's blade buried in Malkorok's left side, with Helpful's weapon caught just under Malkorok's rib cage. We stood there, frozen, and watched as the Sha-tainted Blackrock Orc shuddered his last breath and fell to the floor.

We waited. Malkorok didn't move.

"I think," panted Niarweaver, her deep voice sounding deeper than usual, "we should take a break."

"Agreed." Said Grey.

"I'm all for a rest," Schio said. "But not in here. Not with that."

"Let's move down the stairs," I suggested. "We can catch our breath."

With murmured assents, we picked ourselves up, retrieved our weapons, and continued deeper into the underground of Orgrimmar.


	10. Chapter 10

Spoils of Pandaria

Written to Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Schio - blood elf warlock - destruction

We were tired, sore. We were dirty, bloody messes. But we still kept moving forward. Others had probably turned back at this point, but not we of Illuminatus. Were we crazy? Probably. But there was too much at stake for us to just give up and come back another day to try again. And if we did give up, who's to say we wouldn't have to fight through another slew of enemies again? It was better to keep moving forward, then, and it wasn't like we didn't have the supplies to sustain us or the time to spend here. War was a messy, unpredictable animal, and rarely ended simply. As the saying goes... Stormwind wasn't built in a day.

We took a few moments to catch our breath and tend our wounds after we left Malkorok's body behind. We ate, drank a little, and cut strips of windwool for bandages so that Nph and Xallion could conserve their mana. Once we felt we were ready, we continued on. We destroyed the warriors waiting on the stairs. They looked surprised to see us, and that was probably our advantage. When they were dealt with, we went down the stairs into what looked like a war wolf breeding room, and stayed close to the left wall while we dealt with the small pack of warriors standing there. Then we entered into a huge chamber with a large set of wood and metal doors set in one walk, and a welcoming committee in the center of the room. They went down fast, and I wrinkled my nose at the smell of burning flesh. The metal scorpion had caught on fire, and the fire had spread to the driver.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and prepared myself for battle. It was a false alarm though; it was only Vol'jin's troops rushing into the hall to take up positions as our rear guard. I set my hands on my hips and watched them rush in past us, looking quite well for having been fighting somewhere behind us.

"About time they showed up," I murmured.

Helpfuldeath paused as he heard me and followed my gaze toward the rebellion warriors. He smirked. "Better now than never right?"

"They could've helped us. They could help us now."

"And have them get in our way?"

I smirked. "They wouldn't get in our way. They'd provide the distraction while we slipped around whatever is waiting for us beyond the door."

Helpful eyed me, then looked at the warriors. "They do look pretty comfortable, don't they?"

"Mmhm."

But at Vol'jin's orders, we were heading onward alone. We pushed open the huge double doors to reveal four warriors waiting for us along with two goblin-made turrets. We paused on the threshold, then Grey charged in, taking on three of the warriors by himself. Niarweaver got the fourth one. While most of us focus on the warriors, Julip and I ran toward the turrets, left and right respectively. As we reached them, we noticed orcs running at us. They were smaller than the others, and not as heavily armed. They died fast, before they could reach whatever it was they were running for, and she and I turned back to the turrets. We dismantled them as quickly as we could so the others weren't stuck dancing around falling missiles.

Once this room was cleared, we went on to the next one, which was mostly the same, save for the fact it had three doors: one ahead, one to the left, and one to the right. As we engaged the newest enemies, we silently attended the same things we'd taken care of in the previous room. When we finished fighting, we looked at each of the doors in quick succession.

"Which way first?" Greymoon asked Xallion.

The shaman looked toward the door in front of us, but then looked left and right as if trying to decide. "Let's go right," he said slowly. "Either way, I have a feelin' we're gonna end up back here anyways."

So we went right.

As the doors opened, they revealed several shocked orcs staring at us, and then once again, we found ourselves in a fight. Once that was over with, we went up the slight slope and found ourselves on a walkway with a huge chest in the center, and looking over four chambers that looked eerily familiar. I recognized the markings on some of the boxes down below, though I had to squint to make out exactly what the lettering was.

"These are from Pandaria." I said, looking at the others. "He had to have brought these back here during the campaign."

"De spoils, eh?" Said Mistahtea, moving to one side to peer down. "Don' look like dis gonna be easy."

"Doubt it." Nph supplied with a mirthful tone. "Looks like we're splitting up."

And that's exactly what we did. We split into five man teams, each with their own tank, healer, and damage dealers. I was with Niarweaver, Sabaak, Helpfuldeath, and Xallion. The other team was Greymoon, Julip, Kyel, Nph, and Mistahtea. Nakti would serve as the runner, going to join whatever team needed her help the most. When we decided we were ready - now or never, right? - Xallion stepped up to the box in the center of the room and began to talk to it.

"Hey, we recording? Yeah? Okay." The box spat. "Goblin Titan control module starting up! Please stand back."

There was a slight pause. Then: "Checking out the data. Hold on for a second, will ya?"

I don't know what Xallion did next, but the gate in front of us was dropping and the box was then saying, "Oh, now you've did it! That was really, really, really not the correct input code! Activating GB-11010 'Armageddon'-class defense systems. Does anybody know if we're zoned for this?"

I couldn't help but laugh as I dropped into the first room. It was such a goblin thing to say! Niarweaver ran over to the first of the boxes and punched it open. I heard muffled noise from above, and figured the box had said something again, bit there wasn't any time to contemplate it. The ghostly Mistweaver Niarweaver had released, along with several mantid, had begun to be a pain in the ass. I activated my fire and brimstone, sending flames skittering along the floor to make them crispy bugs. When the Mistweaver was done, another ghostly Pandaren had joined the fray - a Brewmaster. And more bugs. Suddenly there was a glow in my peripheral, and I turned to see an orb floating there, crimson and quietly sparkling. I didn't waste time; I was already throwing a chaos bolt at it before Xallion even called to do so.

For the fight, I'd used the Grimoire of Sacrifice to make my spells stronger and to keep from having to worry about my demon running to and fro and getting in anybody's way. It gave me peace of mind, since I was constantly switching between the bugs Niar released and those stupid crimson balls.

Then Niar ran over to one of the largest boxes in the room and unleashed the biggest mantid I'd ever seen, save for the Paragons.

My slight hesitation cost me, because I suddenly found a series of bombs attached to my body. I panicked. Any sensible person would. But I shot off a conflagrate spell and bolted for a clear corner. I pulled off all the bombs on my body - not an easy a task as it sounded - and dropped them to the floor. Then I ran back to join the others, launching spell after spell toward the giant mantid. We also had to deal with more and more crimson orbs, but they were easy to deal with compared to the mantid. And, just when he staggered and nearly dropped his weapon, Niar went and released another one. Thankfully, the first one dropped just before the second one focused on Niar, but again I had to deal with those stupid bombs. My misery was shared by Xallion, at least, but it was little comfort.

Above us, there boomed a voice, "Initiating system reset. Module 2 at 50%. Hey, system reset requires two modules to complete."

I grit my teeth and cast every single one of my burning embers as a chaos bolt. Just before the last one hit, the giant mantid went down. I saw Xallion switch to his ghost wolf form and race past me. His furry body launched itself at a lever near the back of the room and he hit it with his shoulder, shoving it back as hard as he could.

The gate slid down.

We raced into the next room.

Niar's box-opening strategy remained the same as before - she opened the boxes with the Pandaren in them first, and then began to open all of the smaller boxes, which released quilen and Mogu into our midst. Again, we only had to deal with one or two crimson orbs before we could focus on the small fry. The quilen weren't too bad to deal with, and neither were the Mogu warriors. The urns were a little harder to deal with, especially the ones that glowed white and spat little glowing sparks that exploded in a tight area once they were destroyed. But those didn't compare to the Animus that Niarweaver freed. That thing was a pain in the ass. As hard as we hit it, it didn't seem to go down, and to make matters worse, it spawned a bubbling red goop pile on the ground, healing it the longer it stood in it. And it summoned red beams that we had to stand in, or it hurt.

Of course, we figured that part out after the first set disappeared, and we all doubled over in pain.

Then Niar pulled the first of the big boxes as that stupid voice overhead crowed again, "Initiating system reset. Module 2 at 50%. Hey, system reset requires two modules to complete."

Were we just slow or were they just having an easier time than we were?

I couldn't help the sigh that escaped me as I felt the bloodlust course through my blood as we focused on the giant Mogu. I called into the Twisting Nether and ignored the grumbling of my doomguard as he appeared in the room. I pointed at the Mogu and watched his eyes lit up as he had something to murder. It was really an endearing sight. Doomguards are really sweet once you get to know them... and perhaps kick their butts once or twice.

Like before, just when the first large Mogu was about to fall, Niarweaver released the second one. It was a little bit of a challenge to bring down the first one before we switched to the second one, but a little fire and brimstone and a chaos bolt solved that problem pretty quick. My doomguard got a few hits in on the second Mogu before he vanished. Not that it mattered, because soon the others from the other team were there, and with their added power, the second Mogu didn't have a chance.

There was a race for the lever between Xallion, Mistahtea, and Niarweaver. Mistahtea got there first, but Xallion's ghost wolf form slammed shoulder first into the lever and switched it to an active position.

We held our breath as the remaining boxes started to glow eerily. Then a voice boomed, "System resetting. Don't turn the power off, or the whole thing will probably explode." There was an agonizing pause. "Security system deactivated. Welcome back, Siegecrafter Blackfuse."

There was some whirring, and in the back of the room, a gate rolled up. It allowed us to run back up to the box in the center of the upper walkway. Some of us managed to grab hold of the crane and cheated, but in the end we were all heading to the same place.

As I passed the box, I heard it say, "Have a great day, and don't let the door hit you on the way out."

"Stupid goblin devices." I hissed back at it. Then I followed the rest of the group down the giant hallway that led to who knows where, only that it echoed oddly with roars of unseen beasts.


	11. Chapter 11

Thok the Bloodthirsty

Iron (Woodkid)

Nakti - troll hunter - survival/beastmastery

We headed down de tunnel, which was lit by hidden lamps. De cavern was huge, carved out by t'ousands of hands. Or magic. Whatever had been done ta make it, de purpose o' it came clear as day de moment we rounded de corner an' came face ta face wit probably de scariest t'ing in here.

A giant devilsaur.

Dere were Kor'kon warriors at de far end o' de room, tryin' ta wrangle de devilsaur back inta its cage. Around de room, d'ough, charged a yeti, bats, a mushan beast, an' pterosaurs. De poor animals looked like they'd been tortured, an' dere hides bore welts an' scars an' scratches. I gripped my bow tight, an' rested my hand on de head o' my wolf. I stroked his ears and wondered how far someone had ta fall ta hurt innocent creatures like dis.

Either way, dey were all beyond savin'. It hurt, but we put dem all down. It wasn't a painless death, but we did what we could ta minimize de damage, an' I t'ink in de end, dey felt like dey'd put up a fight worthy o' de kind o' freedom we gave dem.

As soon as we finished wit de yeti, de devilsaur finished wit de Kor'kron jailers. We watched in morbid fascination - or horror, dependin' - as he devoured dem in one big bite. I felt de terror begin in my stomach an' try ta work its way inta my mind. Fur pressed tightly against my legs, an' I knew my wolf an' other companions were scared too. We were gonna have ta fight dat devilsaur, and kill him. 'Cause if we didn't, den Garrosh gonna use him as a weapon against his enemies, an' I doubt anyone would be able ta stand 'gainst him.

I swallowed, only half listening ta Xallion go over de strategy we was gonna use. When he called ta see if everyone was ready, I added my voice in wit de rest, an' joined one o' de two groups as Greymoon moved inta his position.

"On ya, Grey." Xallion called.

I nocked an arrow, readied myself. And den my bones rattled wit de devilsaur's roar as Greymoon attacked him. We ran in, keepin' de two groups as separate as we could while stayin' wit'in de healin' rain an' in range o' de other heals. Xallion burned his bloodlust ability, addin' power ta our attacks an' heals. I fired as many arrows as I could toward de devilsaur's eyes, tryin' ta blind it. My pets ran ta his heels an' began chompin' on what dey could reach. I seemed ta be havin' a better time o' fightin' him den de spellcasters, since he kept interruptin' dere spells it seemed. Den I saw a look o' relief spews across Schio's and Kyel's faces, an' realized I too was shielded by devotion aura. One or both o' de paladins had used de ability ta give us extra time. I looked at Julip; she nodded back an' we both set out explosive traps dat made de devilsaur lift his paws slightly ta keep dem from being burned.

"Get in!" Xallion called after a few minutes o' dis, an' we shifted ta de center o' de healin' rain.

Suddenly, de devilsaur let out a terrible roar and turned his beady eyes on Xallion. I heard Schio scream and den Xallion took off like a shot, racin' toward de hallway as fast as his paws could carry him. I kept my attention focused on de devilsaur, d'ough outta de corner o' my eye, I could see de melee tryin' ta bring down a Kor'kron jailer. I t'rew an explosive trap under de jailer's feet, but I kept my eyes firmly on de devilsaur, an' watched him come back our way, dis time chasin' Nph.

"I got the key!" Yelled Greymoon.

"Open de cage!" Xallion returned, once more runnin' down de hall wit a devilsaur on his tail.

Greymoon spun 'round and opened de cage behind us, lettin' out a group o' saurok. Dey ran outta de cage and, to our surprise, dey began ta attack de devilsaur! Not dat they saurok lasted long; once de devilsaur realized it was dem attackin' him an' not us, he quickly turned an' made a meal outta all o' dem. Niarweaver grabbed de devilsaur's attention once he was done eatin', and we got inta position in de nick o' time. Den Grey taunted de devilsaur off o' Niarweaver, and soon I saw why. A flock o' bats came screamin' outta nowhere an' began attackin' poor Niar. I turned ta de bats as fast as I could an' began ta barrage den down. As soon as de last bat fell ta our onslaught, I turned back ta de devilsaur and fired as many shots as I could 'fore Xallion called for us ta gather close.

Dis time when we split, we ran toward a different cage. Dis one had jinyu in it. Like before, de melee focused on de jailer while de ranged focused on de devilsaur, tryin' ta wear him down. His hide was already a mess o' arrows and burns and bites; I couldn't believe he was still standin' let alone movin' like he was.

A shiver ran t'rough me when de jailer fell and Grey opened de new cage. Ice began ta form on my skin and I realized de jinyu was attackin' us as well. I had ta ignore de cold; it went away as soon as Nph cleansed it off me. As de devilsaur came in ta attack de jinyu, we again scrambled ta position ourselves, and as soon as Greymoon had de devilsaur's attention, we began ta attack as hard as we could. Julip gave a warnin' cry, an' I leaped outta de way as a yeti blew past us. I began ta turn toward de yeti, by Xallion stopped me.

"Ignore it." He said. "Focus on de big guy."

So I did. Blood ran in rivers down de devilsaur's hide, an' he almost seemed ta become lethargic. But only almost. Dere was still plenty o' fight left in de beast. I was almost outta arrows, which would mean I'd soon become useless ta de team. I grit my teeth and pulled back on my bowstring as hard as I could, launchin' an arrow tipped wit black poison toward de devilsaur's eye. It stung him, caused him ta roar in pain, givin' Greymoon 'nough time ta switch places wit Niarweaver.

De transition happened sooner did time, despite Nph's an' Sabaak's best efforts ta shield us wit devotion aura. We spread out again, once more wit de melee on de jailer and de ranged on de devilsaur. Dis time we had ta avoid de yeti, which was harder den it sounded. As a hunter, I had a better view o' de room den de melee, so it became my an' Julip's duty ta warm dem.

De jailer fell, and once more, Greymoon opened de last cage. Yaungols dis time: de third an' final meal for de devilsaur. I knew dat if we didn't kill him now, we wouldn't, an' our fight would end here. He'd eat us, an' even if one o' us managed to survive, I doubt dere'd be much of us to resurrect. I saw chaos bolts fly and saw imps t'row fireballs. I saw a stampede o' animals rush toward him an' added my own stampede. Armies o' de dead rushed ta de devilsaur as he turned toward de yaungol and ate dem. De panic in our attacks was very real. My fingers burned from friction an' sweat poured down my face. Even Greymoon, wit his seemingly endless stamina, looked like he was gonna fall at any second.

As de first o' de flames began ta lick at our backs, de devilsaur stumbled. His little arms flailed like dey would be able ta keep him upright. Kyel's felguard rushed in and cut de hamstring of de devilsaur's bucklin' leg. Spells pounded his bruised, torn, bloody flesh. Arrows pierced his hide. I put my last arrow between de monster's eyes.

De devilsaur fell heavily onta his side. His uninjured leg kicked uselessly, like he was tryin' ta get back up. His tongue lolled outta his mouth as he panted for air. I saw it when his body relaxed; de devilsaur was givin' up. I watched dat mountainous side heave once, den still. We waited, clutchin' our weapons, not darin' ta take our eyes off de beast. A minute passed... Two... Ten. De devilsaur remained still.

"He's dead." Whispered Nph, sounding loud in de suddenly quiet chamber. "He's dead."

I don' know who started to laugh first, but de rest o' us joined in, makin' de chamber echo wit de sounds of our relief. We took a few moments ta rest, repair, eat, an' whatever else we needed ta do 'fore we set out again. It was only gonna get harder from here on out, but we'd come too far ta give up now.

When we were ready, we set out back up de hall ta de room wit de t'ree doors, and dis time went left.


	12. Chapter 12

Siegecrafter Blackfuse

Written to You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring

Sabaak - blood elf paladin - retribution

After we took down the devilsaur - Thok, we later learned, was his name - we high-tailed it back the way we'd come, through the Spoils of Pandaria room, and back to the huge room that had the three doors, the right of which we'd gone in first and now came back out of. Since the north door wouldn't open, we had no choice but to go left. I trotted down the stairs after the others, my hand tight around the hilt of my sword and my shield held close to my side. The previous fights had told me that shit was getting very real, and if we let down our guard even for an instant, we'd be dead so fast that we wouldn't even know it.

Waiting for us down the stairs was a group of orcs and goblins. The way they leered and laughed at us gave me a bad feeling, but I readied my blade and waited for Greymoon's signal to attack. For a few minutes, Grey and Niar sized up the group ahead of us, just as they were sizing us up. When their gazes lingered a little too long on the ladies, Niarweaver was off like a shot from a bow, her death and decay spell going out, along with several others. The first Orc didn't even realize he was missing his arm until Niar swung back her rune blade and an arc of blood followed it. Then it was on - Grey charged in and his claws took out one of the goblins while his jaws caught another around the leg. I swept in, and caught the goblin's dagger with the edge of my sword before he could ram the blade through Grey's eye. In one swift movement, I removed the goblin's hand and I heard the crunch of bone breaking as Greymoon bit down hard on the goblin's leg.

Then the others joined the fray, with spells and arrows and demons and animals rushing in to aid the two tanks and the melee - myself and Helpfuldeath. Not too far away, I heard a female yelp and an explosion, and glanced over my shoulder to see a crawler mine disintegrate into pieces after flinging Julip up into the air amidst a cloud of fire. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, and Nph and Xallion were quick to heal her wounds.

When this group was finished, a second one quickly took their place, jumping up from a set of pipes set in the back of the room. Down below, I spotted a goblin walking around in a giant shredder. It had to be Siegecrafter Blackfuse. I tore my gaze off of him and turned it on the group we were engaged with. This time, it went a little smoother, now that we knew what to expect.

And when this group fell, a third took their place, headed by a female goblin who wore a jet pack to keep her aloft and, to everyone's surprise and dismay, a laser rifle that set everything it touched on fire.

The ranged focused her, drawing her fire so that Helpfuldeath and I could get close to her and start attacking her. She was tough with that jet pack, but she didn't last long once we managed to sever the fuel line. She gave a little scream just before she went up in flames. When the last member of her group fell, we waited, but nothing else jumped out at us. Taking that as a good sign, we approached the pipes and looked down into their darkness.

"So," said Niarweaver. "Who's going first?"

We hesitated. All of us. Then Schio huffed out a sigh, mumbled something under her breath, and climbed into a pipe. She turned to Niar and said, "If I die, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your un-life."

Niar gave her a grin and a friendly push.

I don't think I've ever heard Schio scream so loud, but she screamed, the echoes of it ringing back up towards us. Then the pipe spat her out onto the platform below, and she turned back toward us, a glare in her eyes, and she made a rather rude gesture in Niarweaver's direction.

One by one, we jumped into a pipe. When I jumped in, I made sure my sword and shield didn't scrape against the metal of the pipe, and then slid down into the darkness. The ride was exhilarating. Speeding down the dark tunnel, hoping to high heaven that it didn't spit you out into oblivion... It made my heart race, lemme tell you. Soon enough, I found myself flying through open space and landed heavily with the others. I dropped into a crouch to absorb most of the impact, then slowly rose. Looked around.

We were in an arena-like room, or maybe, more accurately, a production mill. On either side of the main floor were conveyor belts, and Blackfuse himself wandering around in circles just ahead of us. I wasn't sure if he was ignoring us because he considered us non-threatening, or because he didn't really know we were standing there watching him.

"So who's doin' the belt?" Xallion asked.

"Huh?"

The question was out of my mouth before I caught myself. Apparently taking it as a sign of volunteerism, Xallion grinned at me. "Sabaak's one. Who's number two?"

"Woah, woah, time out." I said. "Why do I even have to go? What do you do, anyway?"

"Ya use dat pipe over dere to jump onta de conveyor belt." Xallion explained. "Den you pick somet'ing ta kill dere. Once it's dead, ya jump off and de second person goes."

Schio sighed. "I guess I'll be the second person."

Xallion grinned. "Perfect."

I looked at Schio. She was looking at her floating eyeball demon, scratching it under its chin. I walked over to her, careful to keep her between me and her demon. It had sharp teeth and it drooled. A lot. "So, uh, the belt?"

"What about it?"

"What do you do?"

She turned to regard me, then look at the belt. "Just what Xallion said. But you have to kill the thing before it gets to the other end of the belt, or we'll be in a world of hurt."

"Uh, okay."

"And you're going up first."

"Uh, oka- what?!"

She smiled. "I need time to build embers. So. You go first, Sab." She patted my cheek and gave me a terrifying smile. Then she moved to join the others. I gaped at her back for a moment, then shook myself. _How hard could it be?_ I thought. I gripped my sword and readied my shield, then made my way over to the pipe Xallion had indicated. It looked downright foreboding. I didn't have time to think about it though; as soon as the others were ready, Greymoon charged in toward Blackfuse. I was close enough to feel the bloodlust enter my body, but as the others attacked Blackfuse himself, I jumped in the pipe and was swept away to gods knew where.

I was spat out onto the conveyor belt.

The first thing I noticed was that I was moving. The second thing I noticed was that there were pillars of fire spaced at different intervals along the belt and I was very quickly heading towards one. The third and last thing I noticed was that, ahead of me, were three shadowed objects. As they came into the light, I realized what they were - a laser turret, crawler mines, and a rocket launcher. I had to move fast and think quickly. I didn't have much time to sit and think. I charged forward, moving against the belt, and attacked the crawler mines.

I had to narrow my eyes in order to protect them from the sparks that were kicked up each time my sword struck metal, but I was chipping away at the outer shell as fast as I could. I knew from experience - from up in the room where we'd killed the groups of orcs and goblins - that if I could expose even the tiniest piece of the interior, or hell, jar it hard enough, they'd explode. I felt a searing heat against my back and jumped away from it. A pillar of fire quickly passed me by. I felt sweat roll down between my shoulder blades. It was all I could do to focus on the crawler mines and not freak out about nearly being cooked alive in my armor.

Just when I thought I'd run out of room before the mines broke, one exploded, setting off a chain reaction. I heard Blackfuse tell, "You're gonna pay for that!" but pushed it to the back of my mind as I sought a way off the belt. There was another pipe near where I was at the other end of the pipe, so I risked jumping into it. I barely made it, which made my that gallop around my ribcage, and I don't give a damn about how old or young you are, your heart should not beat that fast. It spat me out onto the main floor, and I watched Schio disappear into the pipe on the other side only to reappear on the conveyor belt.

I focused on Blackfuse, attacking him with everything I had while I had the time to do it. His shredder that he was riding in already had chips and gouges in the metal from sword and claw. Fire from the warlocks had heated some places so much that the metal had begun to melt and turn into slag.

It was soon my turn back on the belt, and this time I had an easier time of it. I chose the crawler mines again, and managed to destroy them before we even passed the second set of lasers on the belt. Again I jumped into the pipe at the other end - it wasn't so scary now - and reappeared on the main floor to begin my assault on Blackfuse over again. It kept on in this pattern, only the floor began more crowded with whirling saw blades. I knew we wouldn't have much more room to stand if we let the saw blades build up too much, so when I saw a deactivated magnet appear on the belt, I let it go and instead attacked the laser turret. I hoped and prayed my decision was a good one.

Turns out, it was just what we needed. Though the blades were gone, and the others had been pulled out of position by the powerful magnet, they were quick to adjust and get back in position.

The next time I joined the fight on Blackfuse, the bastard had a look of panic on his face. His shredder was becoming more and more useless. It was melted in places; gouged and punctured in others; and it was becoming increasingly clear that Helpful's frost abilities were getting into those damaged places and destroying delicate wires and other systems. Sparks popped here and there. There was the acrid smell of smoke in the air. I don't know how much longer Blackfuse would last; I prayed we outlasted him.

I leaped into the belt again, choosing the crawler mines yet again. Each time it became easier, such that by the time I destroyed them, I'd barely crossed into the second section of the conveyor belt. I used my extra time to breathe, to strategize what I'd do when I was on the main floor again. I hoped, fiercely hoped, I wouldn't have to go up on the belt for what seemed to be the sixth time.

But it seemed like the gods hated me something fierce. I was running toward the pipe when I heard a terrible screeching noise, like a cat being strangled. It caused me to stop mid-stride and peer back over my shoulder.

Greymoon was backing away from Blackfuse's shredder, and with good reason. The contraption was starting to lean to one side, one leg completely severed from the main body. It was comical in a morbid way, as those arms flailed in windmill-like fashion, trying to keep balance. It was too late though; over-balanced, the entire contraption came crashing down, making such a colossal noise that I had to cover my ears to keep them from hurting because of the high-pitched squealing of metal. Blackfuse utters a plaintive cry - or at least looked like he did - before he was crushed and buried under a pile of metal that had once been his shredder. I thought I saw the gleam of crimson seeping out from beneath the mangled metal, but I wasn't too sure. But since everyone else began to back away from the pile, I figured I was right.

I joined the rest of the team by the pipes that we'd used to come down to this floor, and climbed back in. I wasn't surprised when the pipes popped us back out onto the floor above. Goblin contraptions rarely worked the way they were meant to, after all. We went back up the stairs, and this time turned toward the north door. As we approached it, it swung open with a loud boom. So much for keeping our arrival secret...


	13. Chapter 13

Paragons of the Klaxxi

written to The Parting Glass by The Wailing Jennys

"Mantid. Why's it always have to be Mantid?"

Julip giggled despite the macabre sight before them and looked at Niarweaver. The death knight stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at the mangled corpse of a mantid warrior. The giant insect had been impaled on what looked to be its own staff, and its legs were still kicking uselessly in its death throes. The huntress tamped down her mirth and replied, "Because, admit it, you've always wanted to squash them."

Niarweaver gave a short grin. "I always hated that hub. They were always so demanding, even after I risked my life doing as they asked."

The group known as Illuminatus had finally breached the very last chamber of Garrosh's underground fortress, and now were heading down a carved tunnel strewn with the corpses of Mantid. It wasn't hard to see who was responsible for it. Most of the group had gathered around Saurfang, listening to his tale about what had taken place in the tunnel.

As the old Orc limped away from the group, Niar and Julip looked questioningly at the others, silently asking what Saurfang had said to them. It was Greymoon who answered: "Looks like him and Thrall came this way. They fought their way through the Mantid holding the tunnel, and Saurfang held the tunnel while Thrall went on ahead."

Niarweaver frowned. "So what does Thrall plan to do? Take on Garrosh by himself?"

"Probably."

"That bastard."

A light cough got their attention, and they looked over at Nakti. "Well?" Said the troll huntress. "Are we gonna keep goin', or are we callin' it quits an' lettin' Thrall have all de fun?"

"Yeah. No offense to Thrall, but I kinda want us to be the ones to make a smear of Garrosh all over the floor." Helpfuldeath added. Murmurs of agreement followed his statement.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Asked Schio. "Let's go kick some insect ass."

The group moved almost as one down the remainder of the hallway, emerging into a wide chamber filled with Mantid. There was even a kuchong meandering near the back of the room. Niarweaver let out a soft whistle. "They really aren't holding anything back, are they?"

"They're the Paragons." Said Kyel. "Of course they'd throw everything they had at us. They want to kill us."

If any of Illuminatus heard the Paragons speaking to one another, they ignored them. Not like they would pay attention anyway; most of the group didn't have fond memories of the Paragons, and even less fondness for the Mantid. Niarweaver and Greymoon led the charge into the first of the groups milling about, and the rest of the team followed their lead shortly thereafter, sending spell after arrow into the swarm, while the melee kept close to Niarweaver and Greymoon, making sure their backs were covered while their fronts were occupied. One by one the swarms fell, until finally only the kuchong was left standing.

"Awh," said Julip just after the kuchong fell into a giant heap. "That was Kovok."

Kovok had been the kuchong that many of the team had helped raise in order to help the Paragons defeat their Empress' forces in the Dread Wastes. There had been a special attachment to him, considering all of the effort put in to care for him, but...

"He tried to kill us," Sabaak said, edging away from the still carapace. "I don't wanna be eaten by a bug."

"Me neither." Agreed Nph. The holy paladin scrubbed at his neck, as if there were creepy-crawlies on his skin. "I like being on this side of digestion."

"Wimp," Kyel said, half laughing.

"Yeah, so what?"

"So nothing."

"Okay, enough." Xallion spoke suddenly. "We don't got much time if we wanna catch up ta T'rall. So we'd better get our butts in gear. Everyone got food an' flasks?"

There were groans and sighs, but those who didn't have the required two things moved to get them. Since it didn't seem like the Paragons were in any hurry to come down and eat them, they took their time preparing. Xallion moved over to Niarweaver and Greymoon to talk strategy with them, and then he and Nph spoke in hushed tones until the others signaled they were ready to fight. Then Xallion turned to address the rest of the group.

"Okay," he began, "dis is how it goes: t'ree o' dem will come down an' attack us. We focus on one o' dem til he's dead. Don' worry 'bout de other two - dey'll just heal demselves once de one we focus on is dead. De only one we have ta worry about is Prime."

"Why?" Asked Mistahtea. "Seem like he just as easy ta kill as de others."

"'Cause he'll encase himself in amber." Xallion answered smoothly. "We gotta break de amber in time, or he heals ta full an' we gotta do it all over again. I'll be hittin' bloodlust dere, so save ya major spells for dat moment."

"And what else do we have to watch out for?" Helpfuldeath asked.

"Besides amber droppin' in on our heads, and hungry baby kuchong tryin' ta chew our faces off?"

"Yeah, besides that."

Xallion shrugged. "De typical t'ings."

"Such as?"

"Just stay a few yards apart from anyone close ta ya."

Helpfuldeath heaved a sigh. "Thought as much."

"Anymore questions?" When there were none forthcoming, Xallion turned to Niarweaver and Greymoon. "Away we go, den."

Niarweaver stretched her arms and cracked her neck. Greymoon assumed his bear form and flexed his claws. Standing side by side, the two of them touched the resonating crystal floating just a few feet off the floor. Then the first three of the Paragons engaged the group in battle. It was rough to get the rhythm started, as they all began to attack different Paragons once Niarweaver and Greymoon picked them up, but Xallion quickly rectified the issue, calling out the single target they were all to attack. Between the summoned blobs of blood they had to focus down before they reached any one of the three Paragons, the focused fire, and the amber being tossed down from above, the first of Paragons went down quickly.

"Thank you," said Sabaak to Xallion, "for not letting me die."

Xallion shot him a grin. "It's not over yet."

Sabaak heaved a sigh and gripped his sword, and jumped on the current target. When Prime emerged from the air above, Xallion let out a warning call. Spells suddenly stopped targeting one of the other two, and began focusing on Prime. Even the melee changed their target, focusing on Prime and waiting for the moment they all knew would happen.

It began as a golden glimmer, and then Prime stopped moving. A thick shield of amber encased him, protecting him from all attacks. But they didn't stop; Xallion activated his bloodlust ability, and the rest of the group began attacking the amber with everything they had, chipping away at it with spells and blades, and taking off chunks. It was over in a matter of seconds - the amber, weakened as it was by the constant and vicious blows, blew apart in fragments, showering those close to Prime with chunks of amber as large as a fist. Helpfuldeath and Sabaak were forced to cover their heads with their arms - or in Sabaak's case, his shield, - until the rain of amber had stopped. Then they focused on Prime again.

Prime sagged suddenly, ichor running down his carapace. He stumbled, which allowed the fighters to cut him off at the knees, and then cleave him down until he was nothing but a corpse on the floor. Then, the melee turned on the next target, as did the ranged. And the next Paragon came down from above and joined the fight.

It got increasingly harder when the Manipulator joined the fight, and with him came infant kuchongs. Julip let out a cry as she found herself being reeled in by one such tiny bug, and then Nakti, Schio, and Kyel were there, spell and arrow damaging the little creature until she could break free of it. Julip back-pedaled so hard that she nearly fell when the kuchong let her go. Schio grabbed Julip's arm and steadied her, and once Julip nodded that she was okay, Schio released her. Together, they returned to attacking.

It went on in this fashion for what seemed like hours. For every Paragon that fell, another appeared to take the fallen one's place. For the melee, it was a tiring affair. Not only did they have to dodge close-range attacks, but they had to make sure that they weren't attacking the wrong enemy, or else all their hard work would be for naught. Sweat rolled down Sabaak's face, making his hair stick to his cheeks and the back of his neck. Helpfuldeath, being dead, didn't have to worry about that; it was the exhaustion that was plaguing him, making his arms and legs feel like lead weights were attached to his ankles and wrists. It was becoming increasingly harder to swing his rune blades, and more often than not, he had to wait a heartbeat to use an ability because he didn't have enough runic power.

For the ranged it was slightly easier. Since they were further out, they could change targets far easier than the melee. Still, for the hunters, their supply of arrows was starting to run out and even their pets were starting to become exhausted. For the warlocks, it was mana, even though several of their spells returned mana to their pools. They were using their most powerful spells when they could, which depleted their reserves far faster than a minor spell would.

The healers were almost out of mana as well. Even with their mana returns, the fight was taking longer than anticipated it would. Xallion dropped his mana tide totem and cast healing rain and chain heal, trying to bring Niarweaver back to full health before the Paragon she was fighting crushed her.

Sweat rolled into Nph's eyes, making them sting, but he still cast his spells toward Greymoon and anyone else who needed a bit of healing. He took a deep breath, trying to keep as much mana in reserve as he could.

Respite came in the form of another Paragon death. No more came out to fight, leaving just the two on the floor now. Grins spread across ten faces - Greymoon's lips lifted in a snarl, which counted as a bear smile - and there seemed to be a second wind infecting the Illuminatus fighters. Tired arms somehow found the strength to keep swinging blades, swinging them hard enough at times to chip away carapace. Exhausted fingers somehow found the strength to grip one more arrow, and another arrow after that. Spells flew with increasing intensity, despite the fatigue plaguing their casters.

"Almost there!" Laughed Niarweaver, and there was a chorus of cheers around her even though the Paragon she was fighting was starting to hit harder, as if he knew his end was near.

And then suddenly Greymoon was beside her, helping Niarweaver hold off the Paragon. Between sword and claw, spell and arrow, the Paragon didn't stand a chance. When he stumbled, Greymoon swiped his chitenous legs out from under him. As soon as the Paragon landed on his back, Sabaak's blade buried itself in one shoulder; one of Helpfuldeath's rune blades pierced the other, and his second pinned a wing to the floor.

Niarweaver stood over the fallen Paragon, staring down fearlessly into those black bug eyes. She lifted her rune blade. "You survived everything the Titans threw at you, huh? Well, survive this."

The blade came down.

Carapace cracked with a sickening hollow sound. A moment later, a pool of ichor formed, mingling with the rest of the blood congealing on the floor.

"Leave it to you to come up with the cheesiest closing lines," Schio said to Niar. The death knight only laughed.

They moved around the bodies of the Paragons and looked up at the double doors that had opened.

"Beyond here," began Xallion, "is de final battle."

"So what we waitin' for?" Asked Mistahtea. "An invitation ta go kick Garrosh's ass?"

Xallion looked at the ten other faces around him, then smirked. "Well, den. Why don' we go say hello ta our Warchief?"

Eleven warriors of Illuminatus moved up the stairs, more determined than ever to see their bloody task done.


	14. Chapter 14

Garrosh Hellscream

Written to Full Circle by Half Moon Run

The gauntlet after the fight with the Paragons of the Klaxxi was worse than the fight with the Paragons of the Klaxxi. By the time the group had reached the middle of the tunnel - just the middle! - there had been a couple of deaths with some quick revives and even faster healing. They took a few minutes to catch their breath and mend the wounds that hadn't received care during the last fight, then approached the next black puddle and its slimes. Ahead, they could see huge twin doors and another set of orcs that had the dark aura of Y'saarj hanging around them. And another puddle of darkness and slimes.

"You know," said Schio, "this sucks." She picked up the hem of her dress to keep it from trailing in slime.

"Of course it sucks," replied Mistahtea. "Dis whole place sucks,"

"No, not that. I mean, here we are, killing these things. Didn't Thrall come this way? Since we haven't found his corpse, and I'm pretty sure these guys aren't cannibals, wouldn't they be dead already?"

"Maybe they're reinforcements?" Asked Julip.

"Reinforcements my ass." Said Kyel. "Thrall probably just waltzed on by them like nothing bad was happening."

"That's not fair."

"Nothing so far has been fair."

Once they were ready to fight again, Niarweaver death-gripped one of the orcs that hadn't been morphed into a frog or caught in an ice trap. It was much easier to kill them that way, they'd discovered after losing a few people. Once the orcs were dead and the puddle of darkness taken care of, they pushed open the huge double doors and entered the inner sanctum of the lair beneath Orgrimmar, the final room. Garrosh's throne room.

"It is not too late Garrosh. Lay down the mantle of Warchief, we can end this here, now, with no more bloodshed."

"Hey, look, it's Thrall." Nph said in a colorless tone.

A few snorts ran through the group.

"Ha! Do you remember nothing of honor? Of glory on the battlefield? You who would parlay with humans, who allowed warlocks to practice their dark magics right under our feet. You are weak."

"Guess we found Garrosh, too." Niarweaver said.

Garrosh continued, "We are the Orcish Horde, the True Horde. We die, bloody and thrashing on the field of battle, like true orcs should. You are an Orc no longer, and speak for none but yourself. You betrayed our people to forge your fragile alliances and I will take great pleasure in tearing them apart."

"Then you have forced my hand. I will correct the mistake I made long ago! Spirits of the wind, the earth, the water, hear my call! Come to my aid!"

"I'm not missing this show." Schio said. She hurried to the edge of the platform and peered down. The others were quick to join her. The eleven of them stood there, watching as Thrall began to summon his elements, and then watched in surprise as he was suddenly surrounded by a dark void.

Garrosh let out a harsh laugh. "Fool. My dark shaman have twisted and tortured the elements for miles around. They cannot hear you now. Once again you proved too weak and powerless to do anything."

"Who do you think's going to win?" Asked Sabaak.

"My money's on Thrall."

Thrall called upon a thunderstorm and escaped the void. "Never powerless Garrosh. And never alone."

"So, you wish to face off against a real Orc Warchief. So be it."

Eleven stunned warriors watched as Thrall charged Garrosh, and for a moment it looked like the Doomhammer was going to win against Gorehowl. And then, to everyone's surprise, Garrosh gave a mighty swing of his ax and cleaved Thrall across his chest. Thrall leaped backwards, clutching at his injury, panting harshly. Garrosh uttered a dark laugh as Thrall teleported himself away, joining the group of Illuminatus at the top tier. He didn't say anything to them, his eyes closed against the pain of the wound.

"Okay," whispered Nakti, "how are we supposed ta beat him when Thrall can't?"

"Same way we beat everything else." Schio replied. "We hit him until he's down and we're not." As if to punctuate her sentence, she jumped from the top platform to the floor below. One by one, the others followed. They landed on the ground floor, eyeing Garrosh. The Warchief seemed in no hurry to engage them. Instead, he wasn't even paying attention to them.

"Well," said Sabaak. "I know how we rate."

"Doesn't matter." Greymoon said, his voice rumbling quietly. "We just have to get his attention when we're ready."

It didn't take long for the eleven fighters to get ready. Gear was checked, food was eaten, potions were readied, flasks were drunk, pets and demons were called and summoned, and then Illuminatus stepped up to the center of the room, headed by Niarweaver and Greymoon. Faces were grim, hearts were pounding, but no one broke or ran. Fingers tightened on bowstrings and hilts, or glowed with a readied spell.

Xallion's words, even whispered as they were, seemed as loud as a thunderclap. "On ya, Grey. Niar."

Greymoon shrugged his massive shoulders, then assumed his bear form. At a nod from Niarweaver, the guardian Druid strode forward and issued a challenging roar at Garrosh.

The Warchief laughed. "I, Garrosh, son of Grom, will show you what it means to be called Hellscream!" Then he charged.

Greymoon walked backwards slowly until he'd rejoined the group, keeping Garrosh in the center of the room as much as he could, switching with Niarweaver when he began to acutely feel the blows of Gorehowl becoming too much to handle. Besides Garrosh himself, Kor'kron warbringers and others rushed out of the wings, joining the battle. Even worse, Garrosh launched an attack on the group called decimate, which dropped a huge ax on the group and opened up a deep void zone of darkness.

Then Garrosh yelled, "Witness the power of the true Horde's arsenal!"

In the wings of the room, left and right, appeared massive spiked balls. Above them on a platform appeared two engineers, each one powering their respecting spiked ball. Before anyone could cry a warning, Schio took a step to the left - and vanished. She reappeared just below the left platform and let a chaos bolt fly. The engineer clutched at his chest, gasped once, then fell dead. The warlock ran back to join the group just as the other ball finished powering up.

As it launched, Garrosh laughed evilly and yelled, "We will cleanse this world in steel and fire!"

"Brace yourselves!" Xallion called as the spiked ball roared past the group, taking with it many of Garrosh's own men, and crashed into the opposite wall.

The entire floor shook with the impact, but Illuminatus held their ground. They continued flinging spells and arrows, cutting with blades and claws, and bringing down everything that was in their way. Only once more did Schio have to abandon the group to kill the left side's engineer, and as soon as she returned, Garrosh seemed to shift. No one spoke, but it was understood that something was happening as Garrosh seemed to speak to himself as he rose in the air, caught up in Y'saarj's power. When he landed, Illuminatus' assault continued, using everything they had at their disposal to try and bring him down.

"At least," panted Helpfuldeath, "there aren't anymore adds."

"Except the desecrate." Responded Nph.

"Except that."

Suddenly, the world seemed to tip on end and the group found themselves suddenly pulled up toward the ceiling, toward the heart of Y'saarj hanging above them. When the world righted itself, they realized they were no longer in the throne room, but in another location entirely.

"Terrace of the Endless Spring?" Asked Niar, her deep voice sounding confused.

"Run!" Yelled Xallion. "Up de stairs! Don't kill de Sha til we up dere!"

Kyel gave Niar a sharp shove to get her moving, and they raced up the stairs. As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, a bombardment of area of effect spells went off on the Sha surrounding them. As soon as the last one died, the wall protecting Garrosh vanished, and the group began to attack him again. This time, they only had to avoid a smash attack while simultaneously beating Garrosh to a bloody pulp.

Then, the world up ended again.

They landed back in the throne room.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," whimpered Sabaak.

"Well, hold it in." Schio responded, grabbing his arm to pull him back. "Nobody wants to dance in your puke."

Now Garrosh was defending himself again. The group was used to the desecrate move - they focused it down as fast as they could - but then came everyone's worst nightmare.

"Mind-controls!" Yelled Xallion.

Two of Illuminatus, Julip and Mistahtea, suddenly began to turn on their friends. They didn't attack, but instead the nefarious purpose of the mind-control became clear: to bring everyone else into the fold.

Hissing, Schio commanded her observer to stun Julip, and she immediately cast conflagrate to try to bring the huntress to her senses. Kyel dropped a shadowfury; the rest of the team caught on and began using interrupt abilities until the two snapped out of the mind-control. With that dealt with, they next had to dodge Garrosh as he went into a vicious spin, sending out blades of darkness that were blocked by Schio and Kyel's twilight ward, Helpfuldeath's anti-magic shell, and the hunters' deterrence ability. Annoyingly enough, the pattern started over again, exactly like before.

And for the third time, the world upended violently, and they knew what was happening again, just not where they'd end up.

"Temple of the Jade Serpent!" Schio laughed.

"Would you stop sounding so damn happy?"

"Shut the hell up, Helpful."

They split left and right to bring down the Sha there, then rejoined for the third group, and split again left and right to eliminate the last two groups. After that, it was just like Terrace, bursting down Garrosh as fast as they could cast or swing, and avoiding becoming pancakes on the floor.

It wasn't long before they were spat back out into the throne room, and when they emerged this time, the ranged damage dealers and healers scooted to the right of the room, while the melee joined Niarweaver and Greymoon up close with Garrosh. They all knew what to expect now, though the grin Garrosh had on his face worried them.

"Ignore de desecrate," Xallion said quickly. "Focus on him."

"Don't forget de mind controls." Said Nakti. "Dey come fast."

And they did. Since they knew what to expect, the mind controls were quickly broken, and they regrouped just outside the radius of the desecrate. And then the empowered whirling corruption happened, and the warriors of Illuminatus found themselves beset by little sha monsters.

"Kill dem, den focus on that bastard!" Xallion called.

The little Sha things dropped fast - even the ones that grew in size for some strange reason - and then they were back on Garrosh, fighting him with a tenacity that probably surprised Garrosh, if they even still cared what he thought.

Suddenly, Garrosh stopped, standing stone still for two seconds before rising into the air, darkness congealing around him like a freakish cocoon. "The true Horde _will_ come to pass. I have _seen_ it. IT HAS SHOWN ME. I HAVE SEEN MOUNTAINS OF SKULLS AND RIVERS OF BLOOD. AND I WILL... HAVE... MY... WORLD!"

"Shut up! Nobody gives a flying fuck!" Snapped Niarweaver. Laughter followed, humor in the face of death.

As soon as Garrosh landed again, Xallion activated his bloodlust ability. Doomguards appeared, stampedes were unleashed, armies of the dead went to gnaw on the corrupted orc's ankles. Illuminatus fought and fought hard, trying to bring down the madman that ruined so many lives, that would end theirs without even a care. It wasn't just for their own survival they fought, but for the soul of the Horde. For Azeroth. For everyone touched by Garrosh's madness and without the ability to fight back.

Mind controls went out again, transforming the afflicted into giant Sha. They were broken out quickly, just as Garrosh went into a wild spin for empowered whirling corruption.

"Xallion!" Schio yelled as the shaman suddenly dropped to the floor. He didn't get back up. She raced to his side, grabbing one shoulder and cursing colorfully as she grabbed a soul stone and slapped it on him. She spun and nearly took out Nakti and Julip with a chaos bolt, and wordlessly pointed at Garrosh. Gasping for air, Xallion picked himself up, using Schio's shoulder to steady himself, then get back in the fight, a healing rain falling over Niarweaver and Greymoon.

"Bring him down!" Xallion yelled hoarsely.

Just went all seemed lost, just when it seemed that they were about to lose, to die here, forgotten, Garrosh stumbled. He seemed shocked. Then his body violently jerked, and Y'saarj's corruption began to leave him, a violent process that left Garrosh with twisting scars that would never heal. He fell to the floor - and didn't get up.

"He's still alive," whispered Julip.

But before Niarweaver could behead Garrosh, a commotion began in each wing. To their surprise, the leaders of the Alliance, the leaders of the Horde, Taran Zhu and Lorewalker Cho appeared. Illuminatus stepped back from Garrosh, allowing Thrall to step toward him.

It was over.

They had won.

"I don't know about you guys," started Helpfuldeath, "but I'm really, really tired."

"I'd like a bath," said Julip.

"I'd like a drink." said Kyel.

"Who's in favor of going home?" Asked Nph. A number of hands raised.

One hearthstone trip later, the eleven members of Illuminatus sat around the Shrine of Two Moons, nursing steins of beer. Their minds were wandering, thinking about what they'd just went through, and what they would do now.

"It's not over."

They all looked at Schio, whose tone had a certain sense of finality.

"What do you mean?" Asked Julip.

"There's always another chapter to endings like this." She replied. She waved her hand. "Always."

Niarweaver laughed. "In that case, we'll just kill the next thing that comes at us."


End file.
